Brotherhood of The Seed
by The Oracle
Summary: Strange events happen long after the events of LBT X, which soon reveal that there was more to the meteor shower than anyone could have imagined...After even more delays, chapter 20 is finally finished!
1. The Lone Defender

It's been a long time. Some of you may remember my last fanfic, "The Land Beyond Time" before it was taken off by for it violating certain policies. Well, I've got an idea for a whole new story, and I'm going to start it here today. Again, this will combine LBT characters with the best of the Japanese live action genre known as Tokusatsu, particularly from the Kamen Rider franchise this time around. This one starts long after the events of LBT X.

I do not own the rights to any of the characters owned by Universal, nor to any of the one's I'll put in by Toei or Toho, and I have no intention of making a profit from them.

On with the story.

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

It was nighttime in the Great Valley, and the moon was full and bright over the stars, trees and long grass swaying in the breeze, as all of the inhabitants were asleep, their children all dreaming of what had been, and what may come along in the future.

But not all of them slept so soundly tonight. In one particular corner of the Valley, young Littlefoot, who had grown quite easily into adolescence, was turning a bit in his sleep, a stressed look on his face as images began to flash by in his sleeping eyes.

It started simply enough, with his mind going back to the event of the big meteor shower that all the longnecks had gathered at, which had now been quite a while ago as Littlefoot slept. As he saw the meteors fly by, he began to hear something, a horrible sound. It sounded like a deep heavy, almost monstrous breathing, but nothing like the breath of a sharptooth. He saw something else too…little balls of light suddenly shot out of the meteors, and began flying down towards certain longnecks in the group. Suddenly, one went right down to him, and went into his chest! He felt a great warmth in his body as he heard a voice, feminine sounding, speak to him.

"The seed has finally sprouted…" it said, quietly. "Guard yourself and those you love well…he is coming…" He then suddenly saw a horrid, monstrous face right in front of his eyes, which finally caused him to call out in his sleep, bolting up and panting as the dream ended.

"Littlefoot?"

Littlefoot looked over to see Bron, who had dropped by the Valley with some of his herd for a visit earlier in the day, looking at him. "Are you all right?" Littlefoot nodded slowly as he looked down. "Yeah…It was just a bad dream." Bron tilted his head a bit, looking rather concerned. "I see. Was it about Shorty?"

Littlefoot shook for a moment. After Bron had arrived, he had told Littlefoot about how Shorty suddenly got up and ran away from the herd a few nights ago. "Kind of…I guess…" he answered; really not sure what to make of what he had just dreamed about.

Bron leaned down and nuzzled his son a bit. "Hey. Don't you worry. I told you we're gonna find where he ran off to at some point. That's a promise."

Littlefoot nodded as he gently nuzzled book, still looking rather depressed. During all of Bron's visits, he and shorty got to know each other very well, and became almost like brothers. "I know that…but…"

"But?…" Bron looked questioningly at Littlefoot as he slowly looked up at him and asked. "Dad, do you even know why he ran off in the first place? He seemed so happy when I left him last time." Bron sullenly shook his head as he answered. "I still haven't been able to figure that out. He just disappeared. If he was unhappy about something, he did a great job of hiding it."

Littlefoot sighed softly as he layed his head down. "It's so strange…"

Bron smiled lightly as he nudged his son a little."Yeah…but it's something that I and the other grown-ups should be losing sleep over, not you." He held his head close to Littlefoot and consoled him gently. "C'mon, you rest now. First thing tomorrow, Sue and I are going to go search for him some more."

Littlefoot nodded softly as he began to drift off to sleep once more "Ok…good night dad." Bron nodded and smiled as he went off to catch up on his own sleep.

Meanwhile, far outside of the Valley, Shorty was indeed alive, but in a deep sleep in the middle of a forest. His feet ached and showed signs of bruising, indicating that he had been walking or running for quite sometime before giving up and collapsing on this spot.

It was as he slept, that single insect flew down to where he was, a large grasshopper with wings. It landed on his back, and just looked at him.

Shorty suddenly opened his eyes, and looked up as if he had heard something.. "What's going on?" he asked himself, as he looked over and saw the large grasshopper sitting on his back. He furrowed his brow a bit as he looked at it, somehow hearing something from it that nobody else could hear.

"Why am I able to hear you speak?" He asked, before listening for another minute. "Protect Littlefoot?…Why?" His eyes went wide as this grasshopper apparently told him more. "You're kidding…"

He heard the grasshopper speak a few more times, before finally nodding. "That's unbelievable…ok, you can count on me." The grasshopper flew away as Shorty slowly began to stand up.

It was then that something amazing happened. A light formed on the middle of his body, in the shape of multi-pointed star, as his entire form completely changed. He became bipedal, his front legs turning into arms as his legs grew longer, tail shrinking away as his body became humanoid, with a covering of greenish organic armor with black patches, his eyes now large and red as a long pair of horns extended from his insect-like helmet. Shorty flexed the new claws on his bio-mechanical armor, before walking from the forest slowly, and roaring up into the sky with his fists extended, in a very primitive fashion, the mandibles on his helmet actually opening as he did this

This was not the first time he had changed like this, and it was the precise reason he decided to run away from the heard all those nights ago. He felt ashamed of this body deep down inside, and didn't want anybody he cared about to see it.

As he wondered how he would get to Littlefoot quickly enough from so far away, the source of his power on the middle of his waist glowed, and a green, bio-mechanical motorcycle was soon assembled by an unseen force projected by the belt. Shorty walked over to this bike, and sat on the seat, slowly looking over how it worked. "You must want me to use this." He chuckled a bit, addressing the force within him as he planned his route to the Great Valley.

Not long after this occurrence, a strange object fell towards the earth, heading for a spot close to the Great Valley. This object, a gray sphere with tiny eyes, looked to its left and to it's right, before finally floating over to a spot as its form became liquid and reshaped itself, becoming large and humanoid.

As the form solidified, it revealed a frightening creature underneath known only as Doras. Doras was almost like an insect, but definitely alien to this world as his slimy dark gray skin reflected the moonlight, his large brow in front of his huge red eyes, which had lids beneath the lenses that blinked every so often, his antennae reaching up high as he walked over to a rock ledge and surveyed the land around himself.

His loud, heavy, and deep breathing could be heard everywhere as he opened his mouth, revealing a set of sharp, threatening teeth as it roared, a bump with a lighted end pushing up on his shoulder as he did this, using it to fire a strong blue laser, hitting and obliterating a big rock nearby.

Doras then let the weapon slide back into his shoulder, as voice called to him, saying, "The first one has awakened. Now the others will not be hard to discover…. The time has come to strike…find them all, and kill them." Doras simply growled in acknowledgement as he slowly walked off, his feet smashing any rocks in his way.

Day soon came to the valley, as Littlefoot walked off slowly, trying to find something to take his mind off what Bron had told him, as Cera and the others saw him passing by. "Heya Littlefoot." Cera greeted him.

Littlefoot smiled lightly as he walked over to join his friends. "Hi Cera. Hey guys."

Spike, who had finally learned to talk within the last couple of years, addressed him next. "Where are you headed today?" Littlefoot shrugged lightly as he sat down "I don't know. I don't feel like going much of anywhere today." Petrie, who was inspecting a piece of fruit he had found, turned to him. "Why? What's wrong? You sick?"

Littlefoot sighed softly as he tried to deal with his feelings, before Ducky soon picked up on what he was probably thinking about, having heard some of the details earlier and passing them on to her other friends. "I think I know what it is. This is about Shorty, isn't it?" Littlefoot just nodded lightly "Yeah…"

Cera sat next to Littlefoot, her upper horns finally coming in as she tried to cheer her childhood friend up. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure Shorty's doing just fine wherever he may have gone. He's a tough guy. Believe me, I know all about tough." She giggled lightly as Littlefoot only smiled a little, still a bit depressed.

Ducky thought it over quickly and smiled, looking for an excuse to do this anyway. "Hey, how about we go for a swim at the lake. That'll cheer you up, I'm sure."

Spike laughed softly and shook his head a little. "Ducky, that's your answer to everything." Ducky grinned and then shrugged. "Hey, you can't beat what works."

As the group went off to the lake, something rustled in the trees behind them. Doras was there, hiding in the shadows, his eyes transfixed on the group of adolescent dinosaurs. As they walked off to the lake, he slowly walked back into the trees, making sure no one saw him until the time was right.

Out in the area outside the valley, a figure went zooming along the land faster than anything that any of the creatures living on Earth had seen before. Shorty held on tight to the bike as his new body could handle it perfectly, flying across the world, feeling things he had never been felt before. It would have exhilarated him if he weren't worrying about what kind of trouble Littlefoot was in. The shined right over the Valley as Shorty set off to save his friend, but thought to himself, "I wish he didn't have to see me like this…he may not want to be a friend of mine anymore when sees what I've become…but…if what that grasshopper said was right, then he needs my help, now!" he increased his speed as he flew on closer to the valley.

Back in the valley, Littlefoot waded in the water of the lake, smiling a bit more as he watched Ducky swim, as Petrie flew over her at times, before landing on a nearby rock. Cera admired her growing horns in her reflection as Spike looked over at Littlefoot while casually munching on some grass. "Feeling any better?" He asked as Littlefoot nodded a bit. "Yeah. Yeah I do. I've always liked the water." Cera grinned at her reflection. "Me too." As she giggled.

Littlefoot was chuckling a bit too, before he suddenly sensed something. He didn't know where this was coming from in his mind, but something inside was telling him that something was not right. He looked around as Ducky looked up from the water. "Littlefoot? What's the matter?" Littlefoot just looked back and forth at the trees behind him. "There's something in there…" Cera just looked on with him. "What?…I don't see anything…" Petrie flew over. "Are you sure? It seems awfully calm around here. Littlefoot narrowed his gaze. "I don't know…I just sense something around here…something doesn't feel right…"

Cera frowned a bit as she looked off at the others. "Maybe we should leave…" At that moment, Littlefoot suddenly sensed danger, and pushed Cera off to the side. As he did this, a blue laser suddenly shot out from the trees, hitting the rocks in the water as he pushed Cera away! Everyone jumped three feet at the sight of this, and were even more frightened once Doras finally revealed himself, stepping out of the trees and roaring at the group.

"Everyone! Get out of here, now!" Littlefoot shouted, as the others escaped quickly. Doras paid no attention to them, keeping his eyes fixed on Littlefoot. Littlefoot just stared at this frightening creature, recognizing his face from the nightmare he had last night. "You're here for me…aren't you?…"

Doras simply growled as he readied his laser weapon, firing it as Littlefoot ran from it, sprinting as quickly as he could. Doras sheathed the laser weapon, and quickly changed back into his spherical form, zooming off as it plotted to find the fleeing longneck.

Littlefoot ran and ran clear to the other side of the Valley, hiding behind a small group of trees as he breathed heavily from fear and exhaustion. As he wondered how he was going to get back home and seek help from his dad and his grandparents, He suddenly heard a growl, and the snapping of trees. He looked back and fled as Doras had caught up with him, using his tremendous strength to uproot a few trees, tipping them over in the hopes of crushing Littlefoot.

Littlefoot rolled to safety as the large trees came crashing down, getting back to his feet. But before he could run to safety again, Doras' hand suddenly reached out and grabbed him by his neck. He lifted the young longneck up by the appendage, just staring into his terrified eyes, as his own inner eyelids blinked. He reached with his free hand, getting ready to finish Littlefoot off.

Then they both heard the noise. Littlefoot didn't recognize it, but it was the sound of a motorcycle's engine. Doras looked over to see a figure on a bike rushing towards him. Before he could even react, The bike rushed past him, and the riders arm went swinging down in a karate chop, lopping off his arm! Littlefoot fell with the severed arm, throwing it off as Doras roared in pain at first, but just stood there, looking at the rider as greenish blood spurted from what remained of his arm.

The Bike turned and stopped as Shorty dismounted from the bike in his new form, staring down his opponent as Doras scanned him with his eyes. In the creatures bio-mechanical brain, a series of schematics, which showed the design of a creature similar to what Shorty was now, flashed before his eyes. Doras stared and simply stated "Gillis…" in a guttural, primitive sounding voice. Shorty walked to Doras upon hearing this, and nodded, recognizing the name somehow. "Yes…that's what I'm called now…Gillis…"

Doras then extended the remnants of his arm, as new one, made completely out of robotic parts, grew from the stump! Littlefoot got up and ran, just wanting to get away from all this. Doras saw him fleeing, and tried to shoot him down with his laser, before the newly christened Gillis jumped into the air, and kicked him across the face. Doras fell on his knee as Gillis landed back on his feet, running towards him, but was soon repelled by a well-placed laser blast to the chest-plate, which sent him flying into a pond nearby as he grunted from the impact. Doras slowly walked towards him, his robotic arm extended as it scraped past a rock, before Gillis jumped back up and punched him across his ugly face and his chest. But Doras soon grabbed him by the neck and threw him several feet away, landing near where Littlefoot was running, crashing through some trees along the way.

Doras jumped high into the sky, landing not far away from Littlefoot as he readied his laser weapon. Gillis saw this just in time, as he ran towards Littlefoot, and picked him up in his strong arms, jumping high onto one of the rock ledges above as Littlefoot screamed and squirmed. Doras let fly a rapid-fire series of lasers, each one narrowly missing the two targets before he jumped up onto the same ledge.

Gills put Littlefoot down, and extended his fists, palms facing in as he roared like an enraged young man, his mandibles moving on his helmet as he charged at Doras. Littlefoot could only watch as the two fought ferociously, Gillis kicking and kicking at the monster as Doras countered with a few elbows to the stomach. Gillis tried to punch him over and over, only to have Doras catch the fist in his large hand every time.

Doras finally delivered a punch that sent Gillis almost falling over the edge, the sharp ends of his feet catching the rock as he was now hanging upside down over the ledge. He tried to pull himself back up, but Doras would punch him back down every time. Gills finally found a sharp rock next to where he was hanging. He grabbed it, came back up, and jabbed it into Doras' leg! Doras roared in pain as green blood shot out of his shin, falling back and pulling out the rock as Gillis got back onto the ledge and roared again in rage, as Littlefoot watched, terrified but fascinated. Gillis then took to the air, his feet extended as one foot kicked Doras in the shoulder, and another one kicked him in the face in a split, rapid-fire succession.

The force of the double-kick sent Doras over the ledge, where he plummeted for several feet, before landing and impaling himself on a large pointed rock below! Doras roared briefly, but loudly in intense pain, before he finally went silent and stopped moving…

Gillis breathed a bit more slowly, calming down as he turned to his friend. "Littlefoot…" Littlefoot gasped as he heard the familiar voice. "What?…Shorty…is that you?…" Shorty wanted to run off at first, but at that moment, he decided not to hide anymore, nodding slowly as he gently got on all fours, the "Gillis" form reverting back to his old self slowly.

A million questions shot through Littlefoot's head as he saw his old friend for the firs time in a while, but there was only one he could come up with. "Is this why you ran away from your herd?" Shorty nodded slowly, knowing what he was talking about. "Yes…but I can't run anymore, not from those who I care about so much. I'm here to protect you now."

"Protect me?" Littlefoot furrowed his brow. "Why?"

Shorty began to walk off. "C'mon. Let's go to our herds first, and let everyone know you're all right…" Littlefoot nodded slowly as he walked off with his friend, his mind lost in all the possible reasons that he could be in danger…


	2. Birth of a brother

Littlefoot's friends had all rushed back to find Grandma and Grandpa, and alerted Sue and Bron before they left to find Shorty about the danger their friend was in. They all talked in frantic and rushed tones, which made it hard to decipher what they were talking about, but they knew that whatever it was, it was bad news.

But just as they wondered what they were going to do next, Grandma looked out and saw littlefoot, slightly dirty from being chased by Doras, walking out into the clearing, while Shorty slowed down, and decided to hide behind a tree for now, still unsure of how everyone else will take his changes.

Grandma gasped. "Littlefoot!" and then quickly walked over and nuzzled her dirty, but safe grandson, very relieved. Cera smiled as she ran over."Hey! You're all right!" Littlefoot nodded as he sat down, exhausted from the encounter"Yeah. Boy, that was scary."

Grandpa and Sue looked on as Bron stepped out and looked down at Littlefoot. "What's going on? Your friends have all been saying that you were being chased by some strange 'thing' that came out of the trees."

Littlefoot nodded and shook a little just from thinking of Doras. "Uh-huh. It was ugly. It looked like a giant bug, and it shot this strange powerful light from its shoulder."

Grandpaw furrowed his brow and shook his head a little. "I've been all over this world in my lifetime, and I've never heard of a creature like that one before."

Bron looked up and nodded to his father as he addressed him and the other adults. "Well, whatever it is, we can't have it running around in the valley destroying things and possibly hurting other dinosaurs." He then looked back at his son. "Where is it now?"

A feeling of relief came over Littlefoot as he remembered what happened, and looked up at Bron with happier eyes. "It's dead." Everyone's eyes widened a bit as Bron moved closer to his son. "Are you sure?" Littlefoot nodded quickly as Bron asked "Well, how did it die?" Littlefoot quickly responded. "Well, you'll never believe it but…"

He looked around, finally realizing that Shorty wasn't with him anymore. "Hey…where did he go?" He looked left and right as Petrie gave him a quizzical look. "Where did who go?"

He got his answer as Sue looked out and saw a familiar face peeking out from behind a tree. "Shorty!" Bron quickly lifted his head, and saw Shorty, realizing he'd been spotted, hesitantly stepping out fully from behind the tree. Many gasps were heard as Sue, who had acted as guardian for Shorty with Bron, quickly began to walk out towards him.

"You're safe! Oh, I hoped you would be!" exclaimed Sue as Bron smiled and followed closely behind, only to be met by a "Don't come near me!" by a very distressed looking Shorty. Sue looked puzzled as she gazed at him. "Shorty? What's wrong?" Bron walked up next to her. "We've been looking for you forever. You've got the whole herd worried about you. What's the matter?" Shorty turned his back to them. "I…I can't tell you…you'll be too horrified to know what it is."

Sue and Bron looked even more confused as Littlefoot suddenly ran out, stopping in front of them. "C'mon Shorty…I already know what it is, and I still want to be your friend…can't you trust them in the same way you trust me?" They looked at Littlefoot, and then back at Shorty as he sighed and turned back to face them. "Very well…"

Shorty looked down at the ground as the middle of his waist suddenly opened up, revealing the same multi- pointed, star-shaped symbol from before, as a light enveloped his body, his figure soon rising onto his hindlegs as his forelegs changed to arms, taking a humanoid shape as insect-like features began to appear once more, along with the green and black organic armor, and a pair of glowing red eyes.

Shorty walked a bit as his guardians and the other onlookers watched in amazement, seeing him shift back into his "Gillis" form. Shorty held the form only for a little bit, feeling uncomfortable in exposing it as he sighed and dropped back onto all fours, quickly shifting back into his previous form.

Sue and Bron were absolutely speechless, as were the other onlookers, until Bron finally broke the silence. "Shorty…what happened to you?" Shorty looked more distressed as he shook his head. "I don't know. A few nights ago it just started happening. I got scared and I ran off."

Cera soon stepped forward, a stern look on her face. "You don't look like the creature that came after littlefoot, but you look just as ugly and mean. How do we know you're not working with the other one." Littlefoot quickly jumped in. "Cera! I just told you, it's dead! And he's the one who killed it!" He motioned to Shorty as he mentioned the last part of his sentence. "He did?" Bron asked as he gazed at Shorty. "Yeah." Littlefoot responded. "If it wasn't for him, that thing would've killed me by now. He's a hero!"

Shorty slowly began to walk off. "I'm no hero. I was just protecting you from that thing. And now that it's dead, I have no reason to stick around here anymore. I'll go now…" Cera nodded, thinking that he should leave, before Sue quickly walked to Shorty, and caught him in a big nuzzle. "Oh no you don't." She closed her eyes and held him close. "We were worried sick when you ran away like that, and we're not going to let you leave us again." Shorty shook as Sue touched him. "No…don't touch me…I can't let you be close to me anymore…it may have been mean and ugly, but I still killed another creature with my other form…I'm a monster…" He sniffled a bit, ashamed.

Bron slowly walked up as Littlefoot sadly looked on, looking at Shorty and addressing him gently. "Shorty…you only did what you had to do…I know you're going through some scary things right now…I can't imagine how much changing like that must frighten you…but if it weren't for you, my son wouldn't even be alive right now. I owe you more than any other dinosaur now…believe me, you're the farthest thing from a monster."

A single tear formed in Littlefoot's eye as he nodded, agreeing with Bron's sentiments as he walked in and joined Sue in the nuzzle, comforting Shorty, who sniffed a bit, then smiled. "Thank you." He simply said, as Littlefoot walked up, about to thank him once again, before something strange suddenly came over him. Bron looked up and saw Littlefoot standing there with his eyes wide open, breathing heavily. "Littlefoot?…"

Littlefoot stood there, hearing a strange, vibrating, high pitched noise in his head, as he grunted and jerked his body around a bit, as his friends looked on, stunned as his concerned Grandma walked over and observed him, with his Grandpa not far behind.

As Littlefoot grunted and moaned, Shorty suddenly noticed his middle lighting up in the same symbol again, and looked up to See Littlefoot's middle suddenly lighting up, only this time in a circular symbol, with a swirling pattern in the center! After a few moments of this, The symbol went away, and Littlefoot collapsed onto his side, unconscious as his Grandma called his name, nudging him.

Shorty then moved from Sue and Bron over to her. "Leave him alone. He's fine." Cera gave him a funny look. "Fine? Did you see what just happened?" Shorty nodded. "Yes…and I think I know what it means too…" Everyone looked to him, not even sure if they wanted him to tell them the meaning.

As this was happening, the body of Doras lay motionless, still impaled on the rock he fell on a while ago, a strange new addition to the valley's landscape as some curious dinosaurs walked past to look up at it every once in a while.

But as the coast was finally clear, Doras' hand suddenly moved…some greenish fluid suddenly rushed out of his abdomen, eroding the tip of the rock as he rose, once again alive as he pushed free from the crumbling rock! His back and abdomen slowly closed up, repairing himself quickly as he roared and held out his hand, apparently deciding to up the ante in his mission.

A ball of light suddenly rose from an opening in his palm, letting it travel to the ground as it landed and created a new monster, which was currently the guise of an ordinary praying mantis, crawling away from the scene as Doras shifted back into his spherical form, and flew away.

Littlefoot slowly woke up, seeing nearly every one of his friends and family looking at him as Shorty sat the closest to him. "How do you feel?" Littlefoot stretched a bit. "Ok, I guess. A little tired, though." Shorty nodded and smiled a bit. "That's understandable…has that ever happened to you before?" Littlefoot shook his head. "No, never…" Shorty thought to himself as the others looked on. "Have any other strange things happened to you before then." Littlefoot thought to himself. "Well…" Before Cera suddenly blurted out. "Wait a minute…Littlefoot do you remember when that thing first attacked us? You pushed me out of the way as just as it fired that bright light towards me." Everyone looked at her strangely as she suggested something most unusual. "It was as if you KNEW that thing was going to attack right then and there."

Shorty looked right into Littlefoot's eyes after listening to her. "Heightened sense of awareness. I went through the exact same things…right before I changed." Littlefoot stood right up. "Wait a minute, wait a minute! Are you saying that I'm going to…" Shorty nodded as he knew what he would say next. "…Become just like I am now, yes."

Everyone's jaw dropped in disbelief as Littlefoot breathed heavily and looked himself over, overwhelmed at the thought, but not as stunned as before after seeing Shorty change. "Why? What's the connection to all of this?" Shorty thought back at what the strange insect had told him before. "I'm not exactly sure…but do you remember back when we had that huge battle between the longnecks and sharpteeth, and after that all those big balls of fire fell from the sky?" Littlefoot nodded. "Of course" Shorty then narrowed his gaze. "I think that event did something to us…it put something inside some of our bodies, and whatever those things are, they're reacting to us now…"

Cera looked at Shorty skeptically. "How do you know all of this?" Shorty just turned back to her for a moment. "A grasshopper told me." Cera looked at him like he was crazy as Littlefoot tilted his head. "Grasshopper?…" Shorty chuckled a bit. "I know, it sounds strange, but it's true. It landed near me in the forest, and it started talking to me. I could understand what it was saying for some reason, and it was saying that you were in danger." Littlefoot shook a bit as he heard this. "This is all so sudden…" Cera sat and shook her head, adding "And strange…"

Grandpa then leaned down and smiled at Littlefoot. "Well, I know it's a distressing thing to think about, the possibility of changing like Shorty has, but I always like to think that there's a purpose for things of this sort happening. We might not always understand them, but in the end, there's always a purpose behind it." Grandma nodded encouragingly as Bron joined in. "You know, he's right. Shorty, you've always been strong, and a great protector, so maybe you were meant to receive these powers. And if Littlefoot gets them too, then he was also meant to have them, because of his sense of leadership, caring nature, and his respect for all life." Shorty smiled as he thought about this. "Yeah…you know, I never thought of it that way. Maybe we were supposed to become heroes, Littlefoot." The others, including the skeptical Cera, beamed encouragingly at Littlefoot as he nodded. "If that's the case, then I can't wait to see if I really do change…"

Little did Littlefoot know, he wouldn't have to wait too long to find out. Not far from where they were, Cera's father munched on some grass, once again indifferent to the world around him. He looked over and saw a praying Mantis walking slowly past his favorite patch. Not being a fan of bugs to begin with, he reached out with his big foot, and brought it down to crush the mantis.

But before he could bring the foot completely down, the bug suddenly transformed, taking the shape of a large, ugly humanoid praying mantis monster! It caught his foot as he shouted out in surprise, and tried to crush it even harder, only to find that this smaller creature was somehow much, much stronger than he was!

Eventually, the mantis creature growled menacingly, and threw off the big foot, making Cera's father fall over loudly as he shouted at the creature and grunted in pain, which immediately attracted the attention of Shorty. He suddenly bolted up, as a flash came over him, sensing the presence of the creature nearby as he ran off towards where it appeared. "Shorty! Wait up!" Littlefoot shouted as he ran off, and the others followed, as Cera soon ran up to her father. "Daddy, are you ok?" Her father shook it all off quickly. "I'm just fine. But those stupid bugs seem to be getting bigger every season. Just what's going on with those things anyway." Cera sighed as she wondered how she was going to explain all of this to him.

Shorty ran up and faced down the mantis creature, before finally focusing and making the star symbol appear on his middle, and gently muttering a strange single word, as the force inside his body entranced his mind. "Henshin…" Littlefoot then saw a strange sight as Shorty fully accepted his alternate self now, a field of white light around him as he swore he saw the figure of Gillis stepping out from behind, and standing right next to Shorty, until the vision faded and the two became one, leaving only Gillis behind as he growled a little and got into a fighting stance.

The others could only watch in amazement as Gillis yelled and ran towards the growling mantis creature, which swiped at him with his large sharp claws, missing him over and over as Gillis caught him with a series of kicks and jump kicks, extending small claws from his own wrists and slicing parts of the mantis with them, appearing to gain the upper hand, until the mantis suddenly caught Gillis in it's claws and flipped him up, over its head, and onto his back, knocking the wind out of him, as it lurched over and tried to take a bite out of him with it's large mandibles.

Gillis roared as he wrestled with the mantis, kicking and chopping at it, but still couldn't free himself from its powerful claws. Littlefoot stood and watched as a desire to jump in and help his friend came over him strongly. As this was happening, the grasshopper from before suddenly appeared, landing on Littlefoot's leg as it drew his attention. His friends looked on as Ducky spoke "Uh…Littlefoot…is that what Shorty was talking about?…" Littlefoot didn't respond, only listening to the insect as it spoke to him, while Gillis still wrestled with the mantis. Bron was about to jump in and help, before Cera's father shouted. "Don't bother! I tried to crush the thing myself, but it's a lot stronger than we are."

Littlefoot then slowly nodded as the grasshopper just flew away and disappeared. He then closed his eyes as Petrie flew over to see he was ok. He was soon startled by a sound, as Littlefoot concentrated, and a belt with a swirling design on the middle suddenly materialized on his body! A humming sound emanated from the belt as Littlefoot kept his eyes closed, and suddenly muttered "Henshin…"

He then stomped one of his forelegs on the ground, as his belt suddenly lit up, and let out a roaring mechanical sound, like a motorcycle zooming away. Everyone looked over and watched in awe as Littlefoot walked towards the mantis creature, which let go of Gillis and kept it's eye on the now glowing figure of white light. With every step, the figure of Littlefoot suddenly rose up and became bipedal, taking a humanoid shape in the light as the mantis creature ran over to attack, only to receive a graceful kick to the chest!

The light soon left the figure of Littlefoot, leaving behind a new figure in armor. It was mostly black, with gold and silver gauntlets and boots, a gold chest plate with a silver outline, a helmet with an insect-like face, silver with red eyes like those on Gillis, and a pair of short golden horns.

As the Mantis was distracted by Littlefoot's change, Gillis took advantage, by rolling up and springing off with a kick on his hands, sending it onto the ground as Littlefoot ran smoothly and gracefully, moving almost like a samurai as the Mantis got up and swung at him, only to be blocked as Littlefoot instinctively delivered a quick and accurate series of punch combos, before sending it flying again with a well placed side kick to the chest.

Gillis then revved himself up again, roaring like an enraged man into the sky as he leapt and landed on the Mantis, biting it with his mandibles! Littlefoot then ran over to the Mantis, grabbed a claw as it swung at him, and karate chopped it, lopping the claw off! Gillis then leapt back down in front of the mantis, taking it's claw and ramming it into it's abdomen!

The mantis shrieked in pain as this happened, trying to run away as Littlefoot pursued him, the gold horns on his helmet suddenly spreading out like a fan, adding two smaller horns to each side of his head as energy built up in his feet. He gracefully leapt into the sky, somersaulted in mid-air, and soon extended his foot into a kick, zooming down and hitting the Mantis very hard with it! He then landed smoothly onto his knees, kneeling in a position with his hand extended, before turning away from the mantis, which got up, before it's other arm suddenly exploded, then it's head, and then its entire body, killing it!

Doras was watching far off, behind some more trees, as it saw the newly transformed Littlefoot walking away from the vanquished mantis. He scanned him with his eyes, found more schematic drawings in his memory banks, and simply uttered a new word for his discovery. "Agito…" (Pronounced Ah-gi-toe) He then growled lightly and walked back off into the darkness.

Littlefoot's friends, Bron, Sue, and his Grandparents, could only stand and watch, utterly amazed as the form of the newly formed "Agito" walked slowly into the clearing, as Gillis walked up and joined him. The two remained in their transformed states for a moment, before finally shifting back to their old selves, both clearly changed inside and out as they held the stoic looks on their faces.

"You know something?" Bron told Sue. "Littlefoot always told me that he always wanted to think of Shorty as a brother…and now, I'd say they really are brothers from this point on." Sue, a bit overwhelmed by all this, soon smiled anyway and nodded as they watched the two walked over to their amazed friends, who were soon bombarding them with the usual "How do you feel?" type questions…

It was clear that from here, life in the great valley would never be the same. There were still questions left to be answered, and most likely more enemies left to fight. But Shorty and Littlefoot were fine with that now, because as they looked at their friends and family, they realized that they were doing this all for them, and that they would always be in it together. Indeed this was one brotherhood that would truly not go down without a fight.


	3. The bigger picture

Doras walked slowly into a large passageway made of metal, making his way into what looked like a large starship, his heavy breathing echoing through the halls as he walked into a large room in the middle of the ship. There were controls and monitors all around the circular room, as a wide circular platform rested in the middle.

As Doras entered, a door closed behind him, and the platform slowly began to illuminate, a green light glowing through the top. A large rubbery green circle rose up and floated over the platform, as a strange humanoid figure pushed through it, taking its shape in the rubbery material in the circle, revealing an odd being from the computer calling himself the "Neo-Organism."

The Neo-Organism spoke to Doras in a deep, partially distorted voice. "So…the second one has awakened." Doras simply growled in response, as the Neo-Organism had already seen much of what happened earlier, using Doras as his eyes and ears.

"This may be more difficult than I had figured earlier." He concluded from his observations. "The professor obviously knew what he was doing, arranging this within some sort of required time frame." He looked a bit distressed. "I just don't know why it took us so long to locate the first ones until it was too late." Doras simply looked on as he said this, not showing too many signs of curiousness, or emotion in general.

"Well, it doesn't matter now…these things are obviously very strong and clever, judging from how they dispatched my mantis creature. They even defeated you, my finest creation." Doras growled louder as The Neo-Organism chuckled. "There's no need to get angry about it. They took us BOTH by surprise…this just means we will have to find other ways to dispose of these troublesome creatures, and keep any of the others from waking up in the process. Now, go back out there, and keep an eye on these two for now. I will devise another plan in the meantime."

Doras then growled and turned around, heading out of the door as it opened for him, while The Neo-Organism addressed him once more. "Remember Doras, that you are my vessel to the universe. As long as I am here, and fully functional, you can never die." He then disappeared back into the platform on the ship as Doras left.

Meanwhile, back in the valley, Cera, Ducky, Spike, and Petrie were gathered around Littlefoot and Shorty as they were now back in their normal bodies, with the adults watching close by.

Cera just shook her head and smiled. "You know, Littlefoot, we've known each other for a long, long time, and I think now I finally have something to be jealous about with you." She giggled as Littlefoot smiled a bit. "How did it feel to suddenly change like that?" a curious Ducky asked. "Well…it was very strange when it first happened…but then…it slowly became very easy for me to do all that stuff, like it was second nature or something." Shorty nodded softly, knowing exactly what he was talking about, as Grandma came over and smiled lightly. "All right now…let's give Littlefoot some time to rest, and then he'll answer any other questions…he's been through a lot today."

The others nodded and smiled as they walked off, chattering with each other in wonder and awe as Grandma nuzzled Littlefoot softly, while Shorty laid down to catch a quick nap. "So, how's my little hero doing?" Littlefoot chuckled a little. "Kinda achy, but all right I guess…" he looked to her and looked puzzled. "This is odd…I just changed into this…thing…I killed a monster using this form, and you're taking it so well."

Grandma laughed a little as she kept her grandson close. "Well, I won't lie to you, I was rather shocked when you first changed, but I realized something. When I watched you out there in that new body, fighting that ugly creature, I could somehow still see you inside of it…I knew that deep down inside of that strange form, you still had your heart intact, your kindness, and your determination to see that all you care about are safe." She smiled and licked Littlefoot softly. "I knew then that whatever this 'thing' you changed into is, it's still the same you deep inside…the same thing goes for Shorty."

Shorty smiled softly as he rested, while Bron came over and looked over them both. "This is just…amazing. The two boys I care about more than anything have probably just become even stronger than me." He chuckled as Littlefoot laughed and looked up at him. "Ah, Dad. I'd never think of myself being stronger than you." Shorty grinned a bit as he opened his eyes from his rest. "It's an entertaining thought, though, hehe." Littlefoot smiled as he laid down and rested near Shorty, as Bron and Grandma left with the other adults to let them sleep for a bit. Bron looked back as he walked off. "I may not know what's going on really, but it's great to see you dealing with the situation in the best way you can…I'm proud of you…both of you…"

Time passed, and as Shorty and Littlefoot rested, something came flying down into the space between them. It was the grasshopper that had appeared to them before, talking to them in a voice that only they could here. "Awaken, both of you…"

Littlefoot jumped a bit, and looked over at the insect. "It's you again!" Shorty slowly lurched up and saw the grasshopper once more. "Oh…what do you want this time?"

The grasshopper looked at both of them. "I'm sorry for not telling you about this well enough before, but there was no time to do it properly. And now that there is time, I think I should try to clarify a few things." Shorty nodded. "Fair enough…first question, just who in blazes are you?" The grasshopper looked at Shorty. "I am no one really. I am obviously not a common insect. I am merely a machine, like your bike, a data assistant program left behind by the late Dr. Mochizuki."

"Mochi-whatzits?" Littlefoot asked, with a confused look on his face as the Grasshopper turned to him. "Professor Jiro Mochizuki, of the planet Paxeria." Littlefoot furrowed his Brow. "Paxeria?…" Shorty looked on in curiousity as the grasshopper spoke. "Oh, yes, you're probably not aware of this fact…your world, is but one of many planets in the universe, though many other creatures are not only aware of this, but travel to other worlds outside of their own through special means of travel."

Shorty could hardly believe what he was hearing, as Littlefoot suddenly remembered an incident involving the Stone of Cold Fire and…"The rainbow faces!" Shorty turned to him with a stupefied look on his face "Rainbow faces?…" Littlefoot looked to the Grasshopper. "Those two rainbow faces that came here once, they were from another world right?" The Grasshopper sat for a moment, processing this odd terminology given to it. "Rainbow faces…yes. Those were Paxerians, just like the professor." Shorty addressed the grasshopper next. "And who exactly is this professor?"

The grasshopper addressed Shorty in a matter-of-fact way. "Professor Mochizuki was the creator of your new alternate forms." Littlefoot's eyes lit up. "Really? Wow, then he'd know all about this. Where is he now?" The grasshopper fluttered it's wings a bit. "I'm afraid he's dead now…" Littlefoot gasped a bit. "Dead…why? What happened?"

Shorty and Littlefoot were all ears now as the grasshopper spoke, somehow able to understand what he was saying as the change seemed to affect their brains as well. "Well, I will try to explain this as best I can with what information I have." It fluttered its wings some more as it processed the info. "For many years, there has been conflict between the creatures of Paxeria, and the android race of the planet MW-537 known as the 'Impactors'. A few years ago, after activating what he deemed as the perfect computer system, Professor Jiro Mochizuki proclaimed that he could use it to create brand new advanced versions of the combat suits the Paxerians had been using to defend themselves against the Impactors, who had tried to invade their planet many times before.

The Paxerian government agreed to his plans, letting him set out into his own corner of space on his research vessel to begin his experiments. He created quite a few prototypes, using the designs of insects, which are looked upon as being honorable ancestors to all living things in Paxerian culture, saving all the components for each design in small data discs.

But while he was doing his research, something happened; that he never thought could ever happen…the super computer he had created became self-aware communicating with him just like a real being with emotions. It was then that the professor discovered the Paxerian military's intent to use his new designs to launch a full scale assault on MW-537, a term that he had never agreed to, wanting only to use the suits as means of defense.

The computer sensed his distress over the subject, and devised a solution. If the professor would surrender his data discs, and let the computer consume and merge with the new designs, it would be somehow able to leave the confines of the electronic world and become an all powerful "Neo-Organism". It would then capture the irrational minds of the foolish people all through the universe, and bring them all under a new order, ending all conflict everywhere, so it believed.

But the professor wanted no part of this, and did his best to insure that the computer could not take all the designs. But the computer, or "Neo-Organism" as it called itself now, had resources of its own, using it's own programming to create a vessel for itself, the creature you have both seen before, which is called "Doras".

Eventually, The professor was able to manually pilot the research ship near an oncoming meteor shower heading towards earth, and confronted the Neo-organism, using one of the weapon launchers on the ship to send the data discs into the meteor shower, programming them to find suitable hosts in the process, proclaiming to the Neo-organism that these new "riders", as the combat suits are often called on Paxeria, would one day awaken, rise against it, and destroy it.

The Neo-Organism was of course angered, and soon afterward killed the professor by using Doras. It was then that I was activated, and left the ship to go down to earth, so that I could share this information with whoever became a host…"

Littlefoot's eyes were wide open as he heard all of this, as Shorty was laying on his side, looking rather overwhelmed. "That was a lot to swallow there…" the grasshopper turned to him and flicked its wings. "Forgive me, but there was much to say. I'm certain that it will begin to make more sense to you as confront more of the Neo-Organism's creations, and believe me, young sirs, there WILL be more of them." It then fluttered its wings and floated over the two. "Have you any other questions for me?" Both Littlefoot and Shorty shook their heads slowly. "Then I should leave, and keep myself from being seen by your enemies. Good luck, young riders…" The grasshopper then flew away, disappearing.

Out in the deep reaches of Space, a ship rushed along, bearing the symbols of Paxeria, as two special agents on the planet set a course for earth on the inside. At the main controls was the friendly, but serious "Rainbow face" known as Takumi. He looked exactly like the creatures that Littlefoot had remembered seeing before, but this one wore a dark blue uniform with a symbol on the left breast pocket.

The second Paxerian soon joined Takumi in the cockpit, special agent Mihara. "How much longer until we reach the terran solar system?" Takumi looked at one of the screens in front of him. "Just another 15 minutes, and we'll be well on our way to Earth." Mihara nodded as he looked out at the stars. "Do you really think the professor's still out there?"

Takumi shrugged as he piloted. "I have no clue. All I know is that it's where his last transmission came from before he went silent." Mihara looked down at a screen that displayed data on the primitive terran solar system as he thought to himself. "Hey…isn't earth where your old teacher and his wife went to a few years ago?" Takumi looked to Mihara and nodded. "Yes, Dr. Horikuchi." Mihara smiled a bit as he reclined in his seat. "From what I recall, he had quite an adventure there on Earth. Think we'll be in for the same thing?" Takumi kept a serious look as he drove the ship along its course, curious about this himself secretly. "I don't know, Mihara. Even if Earth is the only planet in the Terran solar system capable of sustaining life, there's a chance we may not even have to land there. The professor probably just has a faulty transmitter anyway."

Mihara chuckled. "There you go again, always downplaying every mission we're assigned to. Do you always have to assume it's something mundane that's happening." Takumi grinned to his partner. "Well, I've got to do something to keep our hopes down. If we're not surprised all the time, then where's the excitement of the job?" Mihara laughed and nodded. "You've got a point there…" Takumi chuckled and nodded as the two made their way further into deep space. In a corner, there were two small metal cases, one red and silver, the other black and white, with the words "Faiz" (like the greek letter "Phi") on the red case, and "Delta" on the black case.

Back on Earth, Littlefoot and Shorty were still letting the information the grasshopper gave them set in slowly, as Littlefoot's grandparents, Bron and Sue, as well as Cera's father discussed what had been going on quietly.

"I always somehow knew that Littlefoot was special from his friends when I first saw him." Grandpa mused. "But never would I have imagined him becoming something this powerful when he got older." Bron jumped in "It's the same way I feel with Shorty. I knew he was a tough kid when I first saw him protecting all the other hatchlings. I knew he that he could grow to be a powerful protector when he got older, but this is far beyond anything I'd envisioned."

Cera's father looked on sternly. "Well, one thing I learned in all my years of fighting sharpteeth, is that when you beat one in a certain area, another one's going to come along to replace it soon after. I think it might be the same with these new creatures, like the one that attacked me." He shook his head slowly. "I've seen a lot of strange things ever since I was kid, but nothing, I mean nothing, could prepare me for whatever that thing was. I'm glad those two boys were somehow able to defeat it and protect us all, especially Cera."

Grandma looked around at all of the group. "The only thing that troubles me is how exactly did they end up changing like this?" Sue suddenly chimed in. "Didn't Shorty say something about it having to do with that time when all those firey balls rained from the sky?" Bron nodded. "Yeah. And he said something about a grasshopper talking to him too."

Just as the group of adults was pondering these details, two figures suddenly came leaping from out of nowhere, bouncing off the trees, and swinging their weapons at the adults as they dodged them. The figures landed, in the form of two ferocious humanoid lizards, hissing from their slimy dripping jaws as they held swords and wore light armor, as Doras stood in the distance, growling as he lowered the two hands he used to create the two monsters.

As this was going on, Littlefoot and Shorty suddenly woke up, somehow sensing the danger in the distance as they got up and ran, going over to the other adults, who were backing away from the two small but swift and powerful monsters. They watched as Littlefoot stopped and turned to Shorty "Well…back to work" he simply said as Shorty nodded, as they both willed their symbols and belts to appear once more, both closing their eyes and stating "Henshin…" at the same time.

The two ran as they quickly shifted into the forms of Agito and Gillis. Littlefoot, as Agito, ran quickly to the first monster and kicked one of the swords from it's hand, leaping and kicking it across the jaw as it grunted and rolled on the ground as it fell, getting back up as Shorty came charging in crying out in rage as Gillis, making claws form on the top of his hands as he swiped them at the other monster, who blocked the swiping with its swords before Gillis took one powerful swipe, cleaving one of the blades completely in two! The monster roared in frustration as this happened, taking a slice of Gillis' arm a bit with the other blade as he fell back and growled in pain, the rage in him growing more.

Agito continued to fight the other monster in more calm and graceful manner as the adults watched in amazement, swiftly blocking every swipe and every kick from the creature, before stepping away and doing something he had never done before. He reached down into the middle of his belt as it glowed, retrieving a double-bladed staff from it as his armor changed from gold to blue, becoming what the professor had dubbed "Typhoon form" He twirled the staff smoothly, making light gusts of wind with the two blades on each end, as the monster simply prepared itself for another attack, charging in with both of its swords, before being met with a swift slice across the chest, and another one over the back as Agito moved behind him, posing with the staff and holding it as the monster simply fell forward onto the ground, it's body coming apart before it exploded!

Gillis, who was too busy to see all of this, pulled off a little trick of his own. He grabbed the claw on his right hand, and pulled it out, turning it into a long, whip-like coil. He swung the coil at the monster, handling it like a nunchaku almost as the pointed tip made a few scratches on the monster as it defended itself with it's remaining sword. Gills soon retracted the coil, and cried out in rage with his arms extended as the two points on his heels suddenly grew into long sharp blades! The monster readied its sword as Gillis took to the sky, putting his hands under one leg as he brought it high above his head, catching the monster before it could react as he brought the heel down, jamming the blade deep into its shoulder! Gillis stood there with his foot on the monster's shoulder, crying out in rage once more, this time in victory, as his mandibles moved on his helmet, before using the other leg to kick himself off the monster, somersaulting backwards and landing on his feet as the monster clutched it's wound, before losing consciousness, falling over, and exploding!

Agito, looked over at Gillis, as the two simply acknowledged each other with the nod of the head, while Grandma looked to Grandpa. "My goodness, dear. They're even more powerful than we originally thought." Grandpa nodded as Bron added. "I just hope they're ready to accept the responsibility that's going to come with it…"

The group watched as the two warriors walked away from the smoldering remains of the monsters, as Agito changed back into Littlefoot, and Gillis became Shorty once more. Doras, who had apparently just been using the monsters to test the abilities of the warriors some more, just turned and left the scene.

But they were all unaware of the figure that was watching them, high up on one of the cliff, dressed in black, gold, and silver armor, with gold inscriptions on the chest plate, and a large red single visor on it's helmet, with black, mantis-like horns rising from the top of it, and carrying a bow in one hand. After watching the battle end, this strange new rider also turned and left, vanishing into the rocks…


	4. Enemies or allies?

Doras walked slowly into the outskirts of the Valley, looking around as if he sensed something before he prepared his shoulder laser. Indeed there was someone watching him, appearing in the view of a red visor from high above, in the rocks.

Doras suddenly sensed something flying towards him as he moved out of the way just in time, a flashing red object that resembled an arrow just missing him! He growled up at the rocks as the same strange rider in black and silver armor with the red visor jumped down with its bow at the ready. A voice, surprisingly feminine sounding, echoed electronically from the rider's helmet. "How long are you going to keep wasting your power on defenseless dinosaurs?"

The rider readied herself to attack as Doras scanned her with his eyes, more diagrams coming into view as it addressed her in a deep growling voice. "Chalice…" (pronounced KAHL-EES) Chalice soon charged in afterward, launching a rapid fire array of energy arrows from her bow, before swinging the sharp bladed edges of her bow at Doras, who dodged most of the arrows and ducked around the bow swiping, giving her a backhand to the helmet as she fell on her back. Doras slowly approached Chalice, moving in for the kill before she suddenly reached in and grabbed a dagger from her belt, tossing it as the blade suddenly lodged itself in Doras' chest!

Doras roared in pain as he plucked the dagger out, clutching it as green blood began to ooze from the wound, while Chalice quickly leapt onto her feet releasing another rapid fire blast of arrows as Doras dodged them, clutching his chest still as he morphed into spherical form and fled the scene.

Chalice panted a bit as she watched Doras flee. "Well, that should keep him from coming back for a while…but what were those two other creatures?" She had come into the valley right in the middle of the fight involving Agito and Gillis, and thus did not know it was really Littlefoot and Shorty. Chalice then got onto all fours and transformed back into the form of a certain young female longneck not seen in the Valley for some time!

Ali morphed back completely from her new form. She had to learn most of her new abilities herself, since the grasshopper had never come to her for some reason. "I wonder if I should go in there?" she thought to herself as she looked into the valley, longing to see her friends again, especially Littlefoot. She shook her head a bit. "No…we haven't seen each other in years, and they'd be freaked out to know that I can change into one of these…things they've been seeing in there…" She sadly walked off, looking back every now and then…

"What the hell is going on here?" Mihara asked Takumi as they surveyed the planet Earth from above, not finding anything in orbit around it. "Isn't the professor's ship supposed to be in this area?" Takumi ran some deeper scans around the planet. "Well, it's been a really long time since we lost contact with him. Maybe he went someplace else and didn't tell anyone." Mihara shook his head. "But that doesn't sound like something a scientist would do. If he were going someplace else, he would have contacted somebody, in case something went wrong, so they would know where to locate him"

Takumi then looked at a screen. "Hold on a second…I'm getting a very faint signal…and it's coming from the planet's surface." Mihara looked right at Takumi. "Oh no…you don't think…" Takumi quickly interjected. "I don't know what to think…it's best not to start jumping to any conclusions at this point. He could simply have busted communications, or he could be dead. We won't know until we get down there and check it out." Mihara nodded, settling back into his seat as Takumi engaged the cloaking device on his ship and headed for the surface of Earth. "I hope to the great creator that he's alive…I don't even know what he was doing on that ship with that brand new computer of his…" He looked slightly worried at what he might discover there as he piloted his ship into the atmosphere.

Back in the Valley, Littlefoot and Shorty were by themselves in a secluded area, conversing with the grasshopper, which was sitting on a leaf nearby. Littlefoot had summoned the tiny robot by simply closing his eyes and concentrating on it, a new ability he had recently discovered.

"How may I serve you today?" The grasshopper asked them, as Shorty asked "Can you tell us more about what we have here?" Littlefoot nodded. "Yeah. In the last fight, I suddenly was able to change my form and use a new weapon for some reason." The grasshopper scanned Littlefoot and clicked a few times. "I do have some basic files on the suits you have inside of you. I will project them now…"

A light suddenly shot out of one of the grasshopper's eyes, displaying a diagram of Agito to Littlefoot. "You are the host to Mochizuki's series A101D Model, code name: Agito, after the famed guardian of light in Paxerian mythology. One of the professor's more advanced and complex models, this combat suit comes equipped with basic enhanced jumping and strength, as well as instinctive combat abilities. The defining feature of the Agito model is another innovation of the professor, known as the "Evolver" chip. The wearer of this suit, through experience in combat, will slowly learn to gain access to newer, more advanced forms of Agito, each with their own weapons and tactics."

"Wow" Littlefoot said to himself, as Shorty looked on, even more curious than before. "What about me? Which one do I have?"

The Grasshopper clicked a few more times, before a new diagram was displayed in front of the two. "You are the host to Mochizuki's series 655321B model, code name: Gillis, based on the mythical Paxerian lord of the forest from ancient times. This suit gives its wearer great swiftness, jumping abilities even greater than Agito's, and ten times the strength of one of your so called "Sharpteeth". The wearer is also given the abilities to form what the professor dubbed "organic" weapons, such as the blades that can appear on the hands and heels. However, there is one notable drawback to the Gillis design…"

Shorty looked slightly scared at what that might be. "And that would be…"

The Grasshopper continued. "The Agito suit is at full power when it's user is calm and focused. Gillis, however, is fueled by pure, animal rage. Just enough rage is sufficient to make Gillis an effective weapon, however, if the user relies too heavily on this rage, or lets his emotions get the better of him in a situation, he will go berserk, attacking almost anything that's in his way, even allies and friends…"

Shorty looked down and shook his head softly as Littlefoot looked over at him "Hey, don't worry. I'll be right there to make sure it never comes to that." Shorty nods slowly and smiles a bit, a bit unsure of how this will turn out, but has little choice in the matter now. "Thanks." Littlefoot looked back at the grasshopper "Are there any other suits this professor sent out?" The grasshopper clicked a few more times. "Yes, but they have not awakened yet, and there's one I will not be able to find myself, because it has a faulty transmitter that the professor never had a chance to repair."

Shorty just shrugged. "Well, that's ok, if we don't find him, he'll probably find us eventually." Littlefoot nodded slowly. "You're probably right…ok, I think that's all the information we can ingest for now." He addressed the Grasshopper as it clicked. "In that case, I shall leave again. Good luck in defending your home, young riders." It then turned and flew off as the two pondered over what they had now.

Mihara looked around on the surface of the "Mysterious Beyond" as the cloaked ship rested on the ground. "Are you sure you were reading that scanner right? I can't see anything out of the ordinary here…" Takumi stepped out as he held a miniature version of the scanner. "I swear, I saw a signal coming right from this location…"

Mihara looked at his partner. "Well, what is it saying now?" Takumi glanced a few more times, confused. "It's not picking up anything…" Mihara threw up his arms. "Oh great. Our equipment's malfunctioning now…" Takumi glared at him and shook his head. "What have I told you about jumping to conclusions?"

He continued to scan as Mihara sighed and calmed himself. "Sorry." Takumi talked as he scanned "A good agent keeps his cool at all times, Mihara. You'd do well to remember that."

Mihara nodded as he walked around the area a bit, trying to stay calm as a sphere suddenly floated down near Takumi, watching him use his scanner as he suddenly picked up something right behind him, and the device began beeping a warning. Takumi froze, and turned to see the sphere suddenly fly over to a space nearby and change, revealing the form of Doras! Mihara looked over and ran to the ship. "Takumi, hang on!" Takumi simply stood, in awe and frightened of this hulking creature as the voice of the Neo Organism echoed in his head. "You know very well I cannot have outside parties involved…kill them both!"

Doras growled and extended his hands, as balls of light arose from them, creating two hideous looking vampire bat monsters! They shrieked loudly as Takumi stood his ground, waiting for Mihara as he ran out with the two cases, tossing Takumi the red and silver one marked "Faiz".

"Takumi! Catch!" Takumi nodded as he caught the case, pulling out a utility belt and attaching it to his waist, pulling out a device that looked like a cell phone as he punched in the code number: 555. "Standing by…" a voice called out from the phone, as Takumi raised the phone and yelled "Henshin!" before attaching the phone to the belt buckle. Doras and the monsters watched as the phone said "Complete" and red photon streams shot out from attachments on the belt, wrapping around his body and changing it into a humanoid armored form, the armor silver with black coverings and red lines where the photon streams had gone, with big yellow eyes on the helmet with tiny horns on the top, taking the form of the warrior simply known as Faiz.

One of the bat monsters ran towards Faiz, who flicked his wrist after changing, swiping at him with its claws as Faiz ducked and nailed him with a few hard punches to the chest, his moves very rough and reminiscent of simple street fighting, as he sent the monster flying with a hard kick. Mihara was about to open up his case, as Faiz tossed him the handheld scanner. "No! Go off and figure this out yourself. I'll handle these guys!" Mihara nodded and ran to his bike onboard the ship, specially shaped for his Paxerian body as he revved it up and took off, getting away from the fight.

The one bat monster Faiz had nailed with a kick got up and flew away like a coward as Doras simply left Faiz to the other monster, which scored some quick hits on him with it's own claws, shrieking as it pinned him against a wall, about to try and sink its fangs into the armor on his neck, before he suddenly pulled back with his fist, and punched the creature in the gut, putting his fist through it's stomach and out through its back!

The creature shrieked in agony, as it was somehow still alive, stumbling as green blood flowed freely from the wound. Faiz then pulled a device resembling a metal tube, called the "Faiz pointer" from his belt, attaching to it to his right leg as the voice said "Ready." He then stood up and flipped open the phone on his belt, pressing the "Enter" button as the voice then said "Exceed Charge!" The bat creature then tried to ready itself for another attack, as Faiz jumped, somersaulted in mid-air, and extended his foot, a large red light shooting from the pointer and hitting the creature, holding it in place as he shot down in jump kick formation, hitting the spot on the creature that the pointer directed him to, and disappearing as he shot through the bat, appearing on the other side soon after in a flash of light. It was then that the creature shrieked one last time, as it went into a kind of arrest from the energy that shot through it, a huge red light in the design of the letter Phi appearing over it as it suddenly turned to dust and crumbled.

Takumi breathed heavily as he recovered, before getting onto his own bike and driving off, looking for Mihara as he hoped he was on the right path.

Meanwhile, Bron was in another part of the valley, enjoying some especially good leaves he found by himself, as he tended to do sometimes, unaware of the object flying towards him. He turned once he heard it screeching a bit, looking towards it. "What…What is that weird thing?…Oh no…" he soon realized it was probably another dangerous creature, trying to head off and warn the others before it suddenly latched onto him, sinking it's fangs into his neck!

Bron yelled out in pain as Shorty and Littlefoot sensed the creature's attack from far off. "Someone's in danger" Littlefoot said as he ran off with Shorty, before another flash came over his mind and he froze…"What? What is it?" Shorty asked him, before Littlefoot snapped back into reality. "I sensed something else…it's not too far from here, I should check it out. Go and take care of the other one!" Shorty stared at Littlefoot as he ran off, before going off on his own.

Bron wrestled to get the suckling bat off his neck, but it was no use, it was latched onto him too well, feasting on his blood. It would not turn him into a vampire or anything of the sort; he was just a simple meal to this bat. All seemed lost until something came from out of nowhere and hit the bat in its backside!

The bat shrieked and fell off of Bron, who soon grunted and fell over from exhaustion and blood loss, as the bat turned to see Ali as Chalice facing it! "We have enough problems with sharpteeth trying to eat us" she said in her echoing suit voice. "We don't need something disgusting like you making things more difficult!" The bat shrieked and took off flying, trying to get away before being hit with a barrage of energy arrows, falling back to the ground as Chalice ran over and slashed it across the chest a few times with her bow's sharp edges.

Chalice then got into a stance, and cried out as she pulled back her arm from the bow, energy building up in her hand as she used it to launch a big, dark red energy arrow, which sailed quickly across the clearing as the Bat creature tried to dodge it, finding out that it was a homing weapon quickly as it shot right into it, the sheer amount of energy causing it to keel over and explode almost instantly!

Ali, still in her Chalice suit, ran over to Bron, who wasn't moving. She discovered that he was still alive, but the attack drained him severely, and would leave him groggy for some time. "Hang in there…" she calmly said, patting Bron on the neck as she stood up.

It was right at this moment that Shorty ran in, finding his beloved guardian lying on the ground, looking like he was dead, and seeing a creature he had never seen before standing over him. Chalice didn't see Shorty as he just stared down at the downed longneck and quietly said "Bron…" his mind and heart swelling with emotion, quickly beginning to lose control of all rationality…

Seconds later, Chalice suddenly heard the sound of a young male crying out in rage, looking up and seeing a very angry Gillis running right towards her, his mind consumed in anger! He launched himself at her, catching her off guard with a flurry of kicks, making her drop her bow!

It was at this moment that Mihara stopped his bike in the distance, his hand scanner picking up something faint, yet unusual, as he began to pick up the energy output from what looked like two life forms engaged in combat. He then decided to prepare himself and check it out, putting down his case, and pulling out a utility belt like the one Takumi had…

As this was going on, Gillis and Chalice were fighting each other rapidly and heatedly, Chalice letting loose with some good punches, but didn't have much of an effect on Gillis, his body too powerful and unstable from all of his rage, as he jumped and hit Chalice with a double kick, before grappling with her, and tossing her upside down over his head with an impressive over the shoulders throw!…

Meanwhile, Littlefoot was still searching for the other being he sensed, suddenly seeing the image of a figure on a bike. Not knowing that this was Takumi/Faiz he sensed instead of a monster, Littlefoot promptly changed into Agito, getting onto a bike he made appear soon after from his belt and went charging off after Faiz, who was still on Mihara's trail…

Mihara soon slapped the belt onto him, and pulled out a slightly different device from Faiz's phone, looking like a small hand recorder with a numerical pad on it, as he entered his code: 333. A "Standing by" was heard as Mihara said "Henshin!" into the little microphone, jamming the device into the side of his belt as the voice said "Complete!", white photon streams shooting out from the belt and wrapping around his body, giving him a humanoid form as he was now covered in black armor with white stripes where the streams had gone, two large red eyes on the helmet. Mihara had now taken the form of the warrior called "Delta", getting onto his bike, and driving in the direction of the signals…

Chalice was still trying to fight off the Enraged Gillis, picking up her bow and firing energy arrows, which Gillis promptly chopped away from him with his extended claws, before kicking her away.

He then raised his fists, growling into the sky as the blades grew on his heels once more! He circled around Chalice a bit as he readied himself for his finisher, before finally taking to the sky, his foot raised high into the air as he approached her, letting out a deafening roar of pure rage as he started to bring down his deadly bladed foot…


	5. The War Comes to Earth

Takumi drove along quickly in his Faiz gear, unsure of what Mihara may have discovered now that he had the portable scanner, before he suddenly saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was another figure driving a bike, heading right towards him from the other direction, on a collision course!

Faiz swerved to dodge Agito as he pulled over and looked at this strange new creature on a bike. "What the hell are you?" Faiz shouted as he looked over at Agito. "Stay away from my home!" Littlefoot shouted from under his Agito helmet, as Faiz looked over at the valley nearby, very confused. He'd studied Earth creatures before and never saw anything like him. "You live here?…what kind of earth creature are you?" Agito simply replied "The kind that protects others from creatures like you who want to hurt them!" Faiz put up his hand "Hurt them? Wait just a minute, I'm only trying to find a friend in there!"

Agito immediately looked back as he gasped. "There's another one?" he immediately took off, heading back to the valley, making sure everything's ok there before confronting Faiz, who charged off after him on his bike. "Hey, wait up!"

Back in the Valley, the angered Gillis was just about to bury his bladed heel in Chalice's shoulder, before something shot at and hit him from the side! Gillis grunted as he fell off to the side, rolling a bit before stumbling back to his feet.

Chalice looked over to where the shot came from, as Mihara came bounding onto the scene in his Delta gear, clutching the pistol from his utility belt that he had just fired. He looked at both Chalice and Gillis, wide-eyed under his helmet. "These things…they look just like…" he recognized the similarities between these armored creatures and his own armored self. "What unit are you in?" he asked Chalice, who just stared at him, not understanding a thing he was saying, before Gillis roared and charged towards his new target.

Delta immediately aimed his gun and hit a button. "Single mode" the voice from his suit said, as he fired a string of steady laser blasts at Gillis, which hit him in numerous spots on his armor as he fell against a tree nearby. Delta walked over and looked at Chalice again, seeing if she'd respond in any way. This proved to be a mistake as Gillis jumped back up and grabbed Delta, slashing him with his claws across the chest armor as Chalice ran in, still wanting to fight Gillis as she fired a few more energy arrows, hitting Gillis with them as Delta took his gun and hit another button. "Burst mode" was heard from his suit as he shot a rapid-fire blast of lasers, which Gillis dove away from as the shots hit Chalice instead!

Chalice, unsure of who Delta sided with, and too scared for her survival anyway, then ran towards Delta and fired a steady stream of energy arrows at him, smacking him numerous times in the armor as he ran to Chalice, trying to punch her as she caught his arm, using it to throw him into a tree nearby, as Gillis leapt back onto Chalice, getting thrown off by her as he suddenly extended a coil from his right arm, swinging it at Chalice as she used her bow to block the sharp end of it. Eventually, Gillis succeeded in wrapping the coil around Chalice's bow, jerking his arm, and tossing the weapon away with it as he extended another coil, wrapping around Chalice and pulling her towards him as he got a hold of her throat, lifting her off the ground and holding her up as she struggled, as he roared again in animal rage.

Delta got back onto his feet, quite groggy from the impact of the tree, as Agito suddenly rushed in on his bike. "Shorty!" he called out, as he looked over at the unconscious Bron, as Gillis dropped Chalice and looked to Agito. "Look what it did! It killed Dad!" he cried out, pointing to Bron as Chalice gasped and called out in her echoing voice. "No! He's not dead!" Gillis growled at Chalice. "Liar! You're just trying to keep yourself from the death you rightly deserve!" He roared as he charged towards her, claws extended before Agito, after a moment of staring at this new rider, soon ran over and grabbed Gillis. "Shorty! Get a hold of yourself! I believe her!"

Gillis just growled and shoved Agito out of the way as he charged towards Chalice, who rolled out of the way before he could swipe at her, facing each other down before trading more punches and kicks, as Delta stumbled towards Faiz, who drove in on his bike. Agito just watched, unsure of what to do, as he saw Faiz helping Delta onto his bike, as Faiz glanced back at Agito now and again, thinking "Why doesn't he attack us?" as he and Delta eventually left the scene on their bikes.

As this happened, Agito turned back to see Gillis score more hits on Chalice, who he did not want to see harmed, realizing that Gillis' rage had flown out of control, just as the grasshopper had warned. Gillis was just about to finish her off with a claw as Agito suddenly ran in behind Gillis, trying to throw him off as Gills turned and swiped at Agito with a claw!

Agito ducked and delivered a series of hard punches to the back, just around his kidneys, before smashing him across the face, punching him in the chest, and delivering a side kick to the same spot, sending Gillis flying as he quickly grabbed Chalice and fled!

Gillis fell to the ground and rolled back onto his feet, only to find that both of the other riders were gone now, looking left and right for them, but to no avail, as he quickly stood and cried out in frustrated rage "Grrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!" He dropped to his knees and began pounding the ground with his fists "Hraaaah! Gahhhh!" before raising his fists and crying out again. "GrrrrrraaaaaAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Bron finally began to wake up as he heard Gillis roaring out to the sky, slowly lifting his head and looking over at him "Shorty?" Gillis suddenly looked towards him, suddenly discovering that he was in fact alive. "You're…all right?" he asked, breathing heavily. Bron nodded slowly "I seem to be…what's the problem."

Gillis slowly looked down at the ground as he calmed, shifting back into Shorty as he sniffled a bit, now very much ashamed at what he had been doing. "Me…I'm the problem…" he shook as buried his face in his forelegs, realizing what he had just done, trying to kill someone who was trying to tell him that Bron was all right, and even attacking Littlefoot, the one Longneck who told him on several occasions that he considered him as a brother.

Bron walked over quickly "Shorty?…what's going on?…What's happened?" he looked very concerned now, not seeing Shorty act like this in a long time, comforting him as best he could…

Meanwhile, Agito had taken Chalice to safety, on the outskirts of the Valley. He stood near her, looking up and down as she stared back at him, not sure of what to make of him. "Are you ok?…" Agito asked, as Chailce just sat still, coming off as defensive.

This was when Littlefoot decided to show he wasn't going to hurt Chalice, by shifting back to his old self in a flash of light as he got on all fours. Chalice gasped as she saw Littlefoot standing where Agito once was. "I mean you no harm…" Littlefoot simply stated, as Chalice suddenly blurted out "Littlefoot! It's you!"

Littlefoot tilted his head. "You know my name?" Chalice simply got on all fours and shifted back with a smile, as Littlefoot nearly passed out from the shock of seeing that familiar girl in the same spot. "Ali!"

"Hey you!" Ali grinned as she walked over and nuzzled him lightly. "All this time I was wondering where you were, worrying about how you'd accept my changes, and I find you've gone through the same thing!" Littlefoot blushed as he accepted her nuzzling. "Uh…yeah….well, how did you change to begin with?"

Ali shrugged. "I don't know…it just started happening at some point, but I did start having some strange dreams before it happened…" Littlefoot perked up on hearing this. "Dream?…did it involve that event where those big fiery rocks showered down from the sky a while ago?" Ali nodded slowly as her eyes grew wide with astonishment. "Did you have the same dreams?" Littlefoot slowly nodded. "I think Shorty might have too, though he hasn't told me anything." Ali furrowed her brow. "Shorty?…"

Littlefoot chuckled "Oh, that's right, you haven't met my friend yet. Well uh…he was the green warrior you were just fighting as a matter of fact." His face became a bit more serious as he said this. Ali scoffed. "What? That thing? Why on earth would you want him as an ally?…" Littlefoot shook his head. "You have to be patient with Shorty. He's a bit of a hothead, and that suit he has makes him susceptible to flying into uncontrollable fits of rage. Believe me, once he calms down, he'll be apologizing to you like there's no tomorrow." Ali chuckled a bit, taking his word for it. "Oh…ok then."

Littlefoot lead the way back into the Valley. "C'mon, lets go back and start straightening things out. Maybe the grasshopper can take a look at you…" Ali gave him a funny look as they left. "Grasshopper?…"

Elsewhere, far beyond the Valley, Takumi and Mihara had just pulled over and deactivated their combat suits. Mihara just sat there, thinking about everything that had happened since putting on the Delta suit. "Whatever they were, those things were strong, and fast!" Takumi nodded. "I only saw them briefly, but they looked a lot like some of the combat suits we've developed on Paxeria."

Mihara looked at his partner. "These suits are much more advanced than anything our other scientists have created. I'd dare say it's even more advanced than ours." Takumi, somewhat unaware of what the Professor was really up to, sat and sighed a bit. "Maybe these things are the result of some new experiment the professor was running?" Mihara furrowed his brow. "You think so?"

Takumi nodded slowly. "It would make sense. I remember when he first saw some of the other combat suits being made, and he commented that he wouldn't mind trying to design one or two of his own." Mihara thought this over, and scratched his head a little. "Well, if these things are really combat suits, then who's wearing them?" Takumi just shrugged. "Maybe they're earth creatures just like all the others."

Mihara laughed a bit at that thought. "C'mon, Tak, be serious. They're animals." Takumi just smiled a bit and shook his head. "Misjudge them if you want, but I have it on good authority from my old mentor, who visited this place if you recall my telling you, that these Saurians aren't always such simple animals. Besides…maybe these suits are designed so that anyone can use them."

Mihara stopped chuckling right there. "Oh, don't even joke about that. What would we do if one of those Impactors ever got its hands on one of these new suits?" Takumi simply looked on at his surroundings. "Pray, I suppose…" Mihara scoffed a bit as he looked down. "Geez…you're a real picker-upper, aren't you?" Takumi didn't say anything now as the two Paxerians sat and thought to themselves about how they were going to handle the situation now…

Back in the Valley, Littlefoot walked back inside with Ali close behind, looking around to see what was going on, and if they could find Shorty, whom Littlefoot hoped had calmed down by now. They didn't have to look to hard for him, as he came walking towards them, his head hanging down in shame.

"Shorty!" Littlefoot called out, as he looked up slowly, as Ali got a stern look on her face. Shorty looked up slowly. "Oh, hi littlefoot…who's the girl?…" Littlefoot looked to Ali, then back at him. "Uh, her name's Ali, and she's just like us now…in fact, she's the one you just attacked a while ago." Shorty's jaw dropped a bit as Ali frowned a bit. "That's him, huh?…" She walked over to him and promptly turned, using her longer adolescent tail to slap him lightly across the face! Shorty just took it, doing his best not to lose control again, as Ali gave him a piece of her mind. "Don't ever attack me like that again! I was so frightened that you were going to kill me, and all because you wouldn't even let me tell you that Littlefoot's father was still alive…" Littlefoot had explained Bron to Ali on their way back, so she knew now.

Shorty simply nodded as she noticed the tear-stained face he was trying to hide. "I know…I know…and I'm sorry…I really am." Ali just nodded now, getting a hold of her own temper, "Good…" the two stood a distance from each other now, as Littlefoot walked over to them. "Good…now we can start behaving like rational dinosaurs."

It was at this moment when the grasshopper suddenly flew onto the scene. "I must congratulate you…" it addressed Littlefoot. "You were able to do the one thing that I could not." Littlefoot gave the grasshopper a curious look. "And that would be?…" The grasshopper clicked. "Finding the lost suit of course."

"Lost?" Ali asked, not sure what to make of this talking grasshopper. "Yes…as I already told these two, there was one suit that I could not locate, because it had a faulty transmitter, and that suit happens to be yours. That's why I never arrived when you first awakened, to help you through the changes…but, I can see you adjusted to it nicely." Ali simply nodded as Shorty quickly asked. "So which suit is it that she has now?"

"I was just about to explain to her." It said as it clicked a few times, displaying another projection from its eye. Littlefoot had already explained some of what the grasshopper had told him to her on their journey back, so she was able to follow. "You are the possessor of Mochizuki's model N55837, Code name: Chalice, after the Paxerian lord of the sky. Chalice is a specialized model, enhanced with the usual strength and speed upgrades, along with a special boost to eyesight and hand capabilities, which make this particular suit ideal for sniping. Its array of energy arrows, which can be shot from the nearly indestructible metal bow it carries, can hit targets from hundreds of feet away if need be. Of course, the range of this ability is dertimined by the kind of user it has. Chalice requires the user to have a steady and focused mind at all times, or else the sniping abilities will be greatly hampered." Ali simply nodded as she tried to let all this information sink in.

As this was happening, a glowing light slowly floated down into another section of the valley, as Cera's father was off eating once again, hoping he'd have a peaceful moment this time. All hopes for that were crushed however, as the light landed and became the form of a large robot.

The robot, which carried the insignia of the home planet of the Impactors, walked slowly along, chuckling in a distorted male voice as his bulky silver body reflected the light, though slightly rusted, as his narrow red eyes glowed. Cera's father looked over at the Impactor and groaned as he backed away. "Oh not again…and what are YOU supposed to be?" The impactor simply looked at him as he made a large axe appear in his hands. "Oh, so you creatures can talk…very well…My name is Radia, and I'm after something very important…you'd do well not to get in the way…"

Cera's father got into a defensive stance. "Oh yeah…what if I do get in the way?…" he knew this was probably a dumb move, but he had a reputation to uphold here. Radia simply raised his axe, and brought it down over a boulder, cleaving it in half! "If you try to stop me, your head will be next…" he flatly stated, as Cera's father nodded quickly in fear and backed off. "Sure..whatever you say…"

Cera, who had just caught a view of this from a distance, immediately took, off, looking for Littlefoot and quickly finding him as He, Shorty, and Ali quickly sensed Radia's presence. "Littlefoot!" she yelled as she approached him. "Something just appeared in front of my dad." She suddenly recognized that someone else was with him. "Ali?…what are you doing here?" Ali stepped forward. "Hey Cera…I know it's been a while, but explanations are going to have to wait for now…" Littlefoot quickly nodded. "Yeah…we've got a home to defend." He quickly changed into Agito as Cera looked on. "Well go to it then! And make sure my dad gets out ok!" Agito nodded as Shorty became Gillis, and Ali became Chalice. The two stared at each other briefly, trying to get over the last hurdle of tension as one simply nodded at the other, and ran off with Agito to face down Radia.

Radia quickly saw all three of them running towards his location, as Cera's father saw a chance and escaped. "Ah, just the creatures I've been looking for." Agito stepped forward. "What are you supposed to be? You don't look like anything made by the Neo-Organism…" Radia tilted his head. "Neo-whatsis?…" He clearly had no idea what Littlefoot was talking about, as Gillis shouted. "Well, what in the world are you anyway, if you weren't created by that thing?"

Radia Slung his axe along his shoulders. "I represent the proud warrior race known as the Impactors." Chalice gasped as she remembered what Littlefoot and the grasshopper told her. "Impactors…you're the enemies of the Paxerians! The main reason these combat suits exist." Radia laughed a bit. "You sure know a lot of intergalactic history for such a primitive creature…not that it matters anyway." Agito looked on at Radia. "What do you want with us?" Radia shot back. "You know perfectly well what I want, and you're wearing it right now." Gillis growled a bit. "What if we don't want to give them to you?…"

Radia swung his powerful axe a few times. "Then I will tear this valley apart, bit by bit, tree by tree, creature by creature…" Chalice then got into a fighting stance upon hearing this. "Give it a try…I dare you…" Radia laughed a little. "I'm not a three star general on my home planet for nothing, creature…many others have dared me to fight them, and they all ended up losing their lives because of it…do you think you can break with tradition?"

"Ok, I've heard enough!" Gillis shouted, before roaring and running towards Radia with his claws extended, only to be met with a foot to the chest, which knocked him onto his back as he rolled back onto his feet. Chalice quickly launched an array of energy arrows, which hit Radia a few times before he grunted and blocked the rest with his axe, ricocheting one off the blade as it flew back and hit Chalice! Chalice fell onto her back for a moment as Agito swiftly ran in and ducked a few swings from Radia's axe, before catching him with a sidekick, and standing as he reached down into his belt, pulling out a sword as his body changed from gold to red, changing into "flame form". He then swung the sword gracefully and swiftly, clashing with Radia's axe a bunch of times before Gillis extended a coil from his hand, and wrapped it around Radia's neck! He pulled Radia towards Chalice, who then launched a barrage of energy arrows, all of which hit Radia on the chest plate.

Radia groaned and grunted in anger, using his axe to chop off part off part of Gillis coil! Gillis fell back as he felt pain from this, roaring as the coil retracted fully, letting it heal and fully grow back as Radia took on Chalice, who jumped towards him with her bladed bow, only to get smacked in the stomach with the back of his axe, as he sent her flying across the field! He then clashed With Agito's sword more, engaging in a test of strength as one tried to push the weapon towards the other. Agito grunted audibly as Radia began to gain the upper hand, very close to cutting him with the sharp blade of his axe, until…

A spray of bullet-like lasers suddenly shot out from nowhere, hitting Radia's back! Radia yelled out in pain as he fell away from Littlefoot, and looked around the area, only seeing Chalice and Gillis recovering before he saw another figure in the distance…this one was wearing armor as well, only more similar to the kind that Takumi and Mihara had. In the middle of his belt was cell-phone like device like the one Takumi had, which instead of a phi, displayed the letter chi. The X-like design of the letter was on his helmet, made of yellow photon streams, which went over his silver helmet with blueish eyes, and made a criss-crossing design over his silvery body armor, with black coverings and yellow stripes from where the photon streams went when he transformed. He stood with his right hand holding what looked like a gun, which was shaped a lot like a big X, with one end extended to make the muzzle of a gun.

Radia stared at this strange warrior. "Kaixa…" he simply stated. "What in the world brings you here?" Kaixa simply responded by charging towards Radia, yelling out as he suddenly pressed a button on the gun, causing a long golden blade to extend from the bottom of it, showing the true form of the weapon known as the "blaygun". Radia ran towards Kaixa with his axe extended, as Kaixa ran with the blade facing down, raising it as the two met and clashed. Kaixa quickly knocked away his axe, and kicked and slashed at him with sheer ferocity!

Agito, Gillis, and Chalice watched as Radia, overwhelmed by the presence of this warrior, got up, changed into a ball of light, and fled the scene. The three warriors simply stared at Kaixa after this, who just turned and began to walk off. Agito ran towards him. "Hey, wait a minute…who are you…" just as he got close, Kaixa turned and slashed him with his blaygun! Agito fell as Gillis and Chalice helped him back up.

"Don't touch me…" Kaixa simply said in a threatening voice, as he slowly walked off from the scene, leaving the three even more puzzled than before…


	6. A bitter victory

The Neo-Organism appeared on the ship once more as Doras walked into the main computer room once more, growling a bit and breathing heavily as usual, as he walked into the room and stood perfectly still.

"So…There are now three Paxerians on the planet Earth now, aware of our presence, and armed with powerful suits of their own." The Neo Organism simply floated there above the green screen in the middle of the room, any concern he may have had over the situation not showing. "Things are slowly becoming more and more complicated in my goal to consume Professor Mochizuki's suit designs, and gain the power to leave the confines of this mass off technology…" Doras simply stood, watching him blankly as he suddenly heard a voice call out "Are those Paxerians troubling you as well?…"

The Neo-Organism looked over to see a figure in black armor, with a silver chest plate and silver face on the helmet, with reddish stripes on certain spots. "…We can certainly sympathize. We've had our own issues with them." Next to the black armored man was a more feminine looking figure, wearing black and gray armor, with two menacing red eyes on the helmet. Radia, the one that Littlefoot and the others had fought before, was standing to the man's left!

Doras stepped towards the three and growled loudly as The Neo Organism narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Impactors…" he simply stated, as the lead figure in black simply nodded. "Yes…I can see you're up on your interplanetary lifeforms…my name is Logia…these are my two assistants, Radia, and Lucia." The other two simply nodded in acknowledgement.

The Neo-Organism looked on at the three Impactors. "And what exactly brings you three to this ship?" Logia walked around the room as Lucia responded. "I think it's time we confess something to you…we've been spying on this ship for some time now." The Neo-Organism scoffed at this idea. "That's impossible. If there had been a spy ship around, I would have detected it by now." Logia turned and addressed him. "Well, we know how smart and powerful a computer you were, so we developed a special cloaking device that can take advantage of even your little system's blind-spots."

The Neo-Organism nodded softly. "I see…you Impactors are certainly hard to keep up with technologically, you people seem to innovate round the clock." Radia responded this time. "We simply innovate to survive, and now is an especially important time for survival." The Neo-Organism looked to Radia. "Oh yes…you're referring to your conflict with the Paxerians, the purpose for which I was created."

Logia nodded slowly as he approached the Neo-Organism. "That's correct. And we had been spying on Professor Mochizuki and the work he had been developing through all of that time. We've been especially curious about the lack of activity from the professor, which seems to have been going on for quite some time, ever since that meteor shower long ago. Tell me, what happened to him anyway?" The Neo-Organism responded. "He's dead." Lucia quickly turned. "What? How did this happen?" He replied, "He got in my way." Radia tilted his head a bit. "You killed him?" Doras walked near him and growled as the Neo-Organism turned to Radia again. "You're very perceptive."

Logia walked closer to the Neo Organism. "We've recently discovered the presence of three combat suits, very similar to the ones the Paxerians use to fight us. Am I correct in assuming that this was what the professor was working on?" The Neo-Organism nodded. "Yes. Very powerful designs, so powerful that if I can get my hands on them and consume them, I will be able to leave the confines of this computer, and exercise my true power on the Universe."

Lucia looked to the Neo-Organism as he said this. "Interesting…being the enemies of the Paxerians, we would love nothing but to see these new weapons destroyed. We could assist you on this…" The Neo-Organism looked to her curiously. "You want to help me?" Logia nodded slowly. "We want any other potential enemies eliminated, and you want to get out of that computer…I think we can work together to achieve our goals, that is, if you are willing to accept the help of Impactors."

The Neo-Organism gave Logia a stern look. "I have no loyalty to the Paxerians, nor to anyone else…however, since you offer to assist me in my liberation, I am willing to cooperate with you in any way I see fit." He then turned to his creation "Doras…take these three Impactors through the rest of the ship, see if there's anything aboard that they can utilize."

Doras simply growled softly and led the trio to a doorway, opening it with his palm as Radia and Lucia followed. Logia stayed behind for a moment, and turned to the Neo-Organism. "Thank you…you will not regret this…" The Neo-Organism began to sink back into the screen. "You had just better be able to kill those earth creatures, and bring me those suits…" he warned, as he vanished, leaving Logia as he walked to the doorway to join his companions.

Back in the Valley, Littlefoot was explaining what had just happened to Bron and a few of the other adults, as Ali and Shorty stood near each other, trusting each other a little bit more now. "My goodness" Grandma said from behind Bron. "Ali comes back after all this time, and now we discover she can transform too." Grandpa looked at her a bit strangely though. "But there's something I don't understand. Ali, you live with a wandering herd. Surely they would be looking for you or following you by now. What happened to them?"

Ali looked down a bit, sadly. "Oh…about that…" she sighed a bit, having told Littlefoot earlier "A little while ago, I think just after Littlefoot discovered his powers, my herd was off near the valley. We were deciding if we wanted to go towards the valley and pay a visit, before something came out of nowhere and attacked us…" Littlefoot added, having remembered what the grasshopper told him "It was Doras…the one who first attacked me."

Ali nodded as she continued. "I guess he sensed that my powers were about to awaken, and tried to hunt me down. I hid from him, not knowing what was going on, as he readied that weapon of his on his shoulder and fired at everyone." Everyone, including Cera, Ducky, Spike and Petrie, who were also around, listened in shock as she continued, tearfully "He just kept firing at everyone, until he suddenly stopped, as if sensing something, and flew away…my mother was ok, thank goodness, but a lot of the others…" She seemed on the verge of crying before she steadied herself. "Anyway…once I began to wish that I could do something to protect the herd from this monster, that's when my powers awakened. It took a while to adjust, but I ended up leaving the herd secretly. And I'm not coming back to them until Doras is dead."

Bron, who had just met Ali for the first time, but had heard about her numerous times from Littlefoot recalling past events, leaned down and talked to her. "Hey…I know what you're going through now…you've been hurt, your family's been hurt…but do you really think it's wise to keep them in the dark about all this, to make them worry even more than they have to now that you've disappeared too?" Ali looked down at the ground. "I don't know if they can accept it…what I've become, I mean." Cera smiled as she approached her. "Ali…look at us, look at everyone else…see how well we've taken it?" The others smiled as Littlefoot and Shorty nodded to Ali, who looked up and smiled a bit herself. "I guess you have a point there…"

Littlefoot changed the subject. "Ok, now we need to focus on more important things, like that Radia guy who attacked us." He addressed Shorty and Ali. "We need to find the grasshopper, and ask what he has to do with all this, and what connection he has to those other three guys in armor that came by earlier." He suddenly heard a voice from outside the group say "He's our enemy…"

Everyone turned to See Takumi and Mihara walking towards them. "It's the rainbow-faces." Petrie called out, causing Mihara to look at Takumi funny. "Rainbow faces?…" Takumi chuckled "It's a long story…" Littlefoot chuckled as he addressed his friends. "They're not rainbow-faces, they're called Paxerians."

Takumi tilted his head as he approached Littlefoot. "You know what we really are now?" Littlefoot nodded as Shorty responded "A grasshopper told us about your kind." Mihara scratched his head. "Grasshopper?" Takumi thought this over, having heard about something similar. "The professor must've sent out a data droid." Littlefoot looked at him funny. "A what?" Mihara chuckled and nodded "Oh right, a data droid. That's a little robot that can make itself look like a creature in it's environment to blend in, coming in and giving others information when needed."

Ducky walked in now and looked at the two. "You don't look like the rainbow-faces we saw before…" Takumi chuckled and shook his head. "Nope…I think you saw my mentor, professor Horikuchi, and his wife." Littlefoot walked closer to Takumi. "You know him? How is he?" Takumi smiled "Oh, he's doing just fine. His son just made it to a prestigious school recently, so he's been very happy about that." Littlefoot chuckled, not really understanding what he was saying. "Ok then."

Takumi smiled lightly "Oh, wait, where are my manners. My name's Takumi, and this is my partner and friend, Mihara." Littlefoot nodded. "Hello" Mihara smiled a bit "Hi." Shorty then looked and saw the cases that Mihara was carrying, seeing the Delta symbol on one and remembering…

"Wait a minute…" he walked to Mihara. "It was you wasn't it?…the one who attacked me earlier!" The others looked straight at Mihara as he backed off a bit, not seeing any point in hiding it. "Well, what was I supposed to do? You were charging right towards me!" Ali rushed in "Calm down you two, it was all part of a big misunderstanding." She looked at Shorty "C'mon, I've forgiven you for attacking me…can't you forgive Mihara too?" Shorty backed off, remembering what would happen if he got too angry. "Ok…sorry about that."

Takumi then walked to Mihara and took the cases. "Now that we've calmed down, I can explain some things to you…we're from a special agency on Paxeria, and we were sent out to this area…travel here is extremely restricted by intergalactic law, but this is a special case, since professor Mochizuki's been gone for such a long time." Littlefoot nodded "I can tell you…he's dead…" Mihara gasped. "What?…" Littlefoot sighed. "Just listen. I can tell you what the "data droid" told me.."

Takumi and Mihara sat and listened closely as he explained everything to them, the professor's experiments, the revolt of the computer, now calling itself the Neo-Organism, and his death at the hands of Doras after sending the suit designs into the meteor shower.

"Oh, man" Mihara said to Takumi. "This is more serious than we thought." Ali looked to the cases. "What I don't understand is, how are you two able to transform like we can?" Takumi took the case the Faiz gear and opened it. "Well that's easy to explain…after the prof Mochizuki had been gone for such a long time, his assistant, Professor Murakami, decided to pick up where he left off, and designed three prototype "rider" belts as they're called. They give us the ability to transform into warriors like you three are." He showed them his belt. "This is the "Faiz gear", and Mihara's been using the "Delta gear" Mihara nodded lightly as Shorty looked confused. "You said there were three…what happened to the third?…"

Takumi put the belt away. "Well, about that…there were some flaws in the prototypes as it turns out…only one of the belts worked with everyone the professor tried it on, and that was the Delta gear…for the Faiz gear it wasn't so easy…you see, the Faiz gear requires a certain genetic code compatibility…in other words, you have to have the right body type, or else the belt won't transform you, it will reject you. I was the one of the only ones it would work with…now, the Faiz gear would simply reject you, because it has a restrictive T-126 mechanism in the device, that's the part that shoots out these photon streams that create the armor…the Kaixa gear on the other hand…"

"What?…what happened with that one?" Littlefoot asked, even more curious.

Takumi sighed as he went back to some painful memories. "The Kaixa gear used a much less stable T-135 mechanism…the same restrictions applied, but with far more dire consequences…anyone not of the right body type for the Kaixa gear will die after using it once, their body will turn to dust basically. I know because another partner of mine, Nishida, tried it, and that's what happened" Ali jaw-dropped as Shorty asked "Well…did you ever find someone who could use it?"

Mihara jumped into the conversation. "We did…his name was Kusaka…real loose cannon…he broke into the lab and stole the belt while we were fighting someone spying for the impactors…luckily at the time, he was the right body type for it, and came in to help us. But, instead of helping us capture the spy, he killed him. He was severely reprimanded for this action, and the agency threatened to kick him out. He defended his actions as usual…see, he lost his family to an Impactor attack when he was younger, and he's had a grudge against them ever since. After that confrontation, Kusaka stole the belt, and flew away on a ship he had rented. We haven't seen him or the Kaixa gear since then."

Ali thought to herself as she heard this. "Kaixa?…wait, a minute…that guy who came here earlier…" Takumi quickly looked at her. "What guy?" Littlefoot jumped in "He was wearing armor like yours…and Radia called him Kaixa…" Mihara looked alarmed. "Silver and black armor with yellow stripes? Was this what he had on?" Littlefoot nodded as Takumi looked back at Mihara. "It's definitely Kusaka then…" Mihara looked puzzled. "But what's he doing here? There's no good reason for him to come." Takumi thought for a moment. "Well, we know that Radia's here. Maybe Kusaka was tailing him without him knowing." Shorty looked up curiously. "Why would he want to follow him?" Takumi turned to him and responded. "Well, remember the attack we told you about, where Kusaka's family was killed? Well, it was Radia's unit that did it." Shorty nodded as Mihara looked even more concerned. "Do you think Radia's the only Impactor who knows about all this?" Takumi sighed and shook his head. "I sure hope so…"

His hopes were quickly crushed however, when three figures suddenly appeared in the valley. It was Impactors Lucia and Radia, walking with Doras! Everyone stepped back in horror as Mihara looked on. "Oh great…Now there's two Impactors…and they're working with that Doras thing." Takmui looked straight on at them. "They must have cut a deal with the computer." He addressed them. "What do you two want? Why are you working with that creature?" Lucia scoffed at him. "All you need to know, Paxerian, is that we're going to have to kill your new friends." Radia nodded. "Yes…there's business to be taken care of…we can't sit back and let you launch what very well may be a new threat to our existence as Impactors."

Cera, Spike, and the others, stood around Littlefoot, instinctively protecting him and Ali and Shorty, before Littlefoot gently nudged them out of the way, looking straight at them. "You want to kill us?…" his Agito belt quickly appeared on his body as he displayed confidence and bravery beyond his own expectations. "Go ahead and try…henshin!" he put his foot down as the noise came from the belt once more, walking forward and transforming into Agito. Shorty came out next, scowling "This longneck's not going down without a fight either…henshin!" The star shaped buckle appeared on his belt as his body glowed and changed, becoming Gillis. Ali then stepped out as a silver belt buckle appeared on her, with a red middle, as a strap grew from both sides and attached itself to her. "It's time to pay for your crimes Doras…henshin!" A voice called out "CHANGING.." from her belt as black energy rained down on her quickly, transforming her into Chalice as the others watched.

Agito and Gillis charged at Radia and Lucia, as Chalice headed straight for Doras. Lucia ducked a kick from Agtio and countered with some of her own, very swift and accurate with her attacks as Gillis ducked Radia's axe swings, extending his claws and slashing at him, while Doras growled and swiped at Chalice, who dodged and swung with the bladed tips of her bow.

As this was happening, Takumi and Mihara quickly got out their belts, Takumi slapping on the Faiz gear, as Mihara attached the Delta gear. They each punched in the codes on their "henshin" devices "555" and "333" as both of them said "STANDING BY…" they each said "Henshin!" and attached the devices to their belts, both saying "COMPLETE" as Takumi became Faiz, and Mihara became Delta.

They slowly walked, and then charged right towards the fight, ready to join their new allies as Faiz removed his a pistol from his belt, and Delta took out his gun, firing! The shots hit Radia and Lucia as they fell back, Radia readying his axe as Lucia took out a crescent-shaped sword with a handle in the middle of the blade. Delta joined Gillis as the two double kicked Radia, forcing him to block with his axe, as Faiz joined Agito and dodged the swinging of Lucia's blade, as Agito quickly changed to his blue "Typhoon" form, taking out his double-bladed staff and swinging it at her, clashing with her sword.

Chalice ran towards Doras, who dodged the energy arrows she continued to launch, as Gillis left Radia to Delta, running to help her out as he extended a coil from his arm, wrapping it around Doras as he growled and struggled. Gillis growled too, keeping him in place as Chalice launched a cluster of energy arrows, all hitting Doras in the chest. Doras roared in anger and grabbed the coil holding him, throwing Gillis as he broke free of it. As he was doing this, he didn't notice Chalice with her hand pulled back, charging up a big arrow, before she shot it and hit him in the chest with it, making Doras' upper body explode! Chalice fell back as she saw the green goop that remained from his upper body suddenly moving back towards the rest of him, realizing that she hadn't killed him even with this. She grunted with frustration, but then saw Agito and Faiz struggling with Lucia, as Gillis got back to his feet, and rejoined Delta in fighting Radia.

Chalice shrugged and ran towards Lucia, striking her from behind with some arrows as she grunted and fell forward, allowing Agito to strike her with his weapon, as Faiz shot her a few times with his pistol. Doras soon reconstructed himself after this happened, and instead of helping the two impactors, quickly reverted to his spherical form and flew away. "Where does he think he's going?" Radia shouted, dodging blasts from Delta's gun as Gillis leapt onto him, roaring, and bit him on the shoulder armor! "Ahhhh! Get off me you fiend!" Radia yelled, as Delta got him with some well placed blasts to the stomach. Radia threw Gillis off as he stepped back and readied his axe, not aware of figure in the distance.

The figure turned out to be that of a Paxerian, wearing an agency uniform made to fit his body, and had an intense look on his face…it was Kusaka! He watched the fighting go on as he reached into a case, and pulled out the Kaixa gear. He attached it to his body, got out his cell-phone like device, and punched in the code: 913. A much darker and threatening distorted voice called out "STANDING BY..." as Kusaka raised the phone to his mouth and said "Henshin!" before placing it into his belt. "COMPLETE..." Yellow photon streams shot out, wrapping around him and changing him into Kaixa once more.

Radia was busy fighting with Gillis and Delta, before he suddenly saw Kaixa now running towards him, firing his blaygun! The rapid fire yellow bullets struck him hard, as Gillis and Delta moved back from this. Kaixa quickly extended the blade on his weapon, and charged in to strike Radia a few times, as Lucia was too busy fighting Agito, Faiz AND Chalice to help. Kaixa took the charger off the front of his belt and attached it to his blaygun as the voice said "Ready.." Radia got back to his feet as Kaixa said. "Radia…I've waited a long time for this…it's time for you for you to reap what you sowed all those years ago." Radia grunted "Come and get me, you troublesome runt! Come and get me!" Kaixa yelled out in rage as he ran in and slashed Radia "That was for my Mother!" he blasted him with the gun section. "That was for my father!" He gave Radia another slash across the hemlet. "That was for my sister!" he then flipped open the device on his belt. "And this is for all the Paxerians who died under your axe!" he pressed the enter button as the voice said "EXCEED CHARGE..." He then raised his blaygun, before running towards Radia, who tried to block with his axe, before Kaixa suddenly slid on his feet, with the blade extended, quickly slicing through Radia as he stopped sliding behind him, his blade glowing…Everyone suddenly stopped and watched as Radia succumbed to the energy, crying out one last time in pain as a yellow X, the Kaixa symbol, appeared over him and flashed, collapsing and crumbling into dust as he was now dead!

Lucia broke away from the others as she stared on sadly…"Radia…" she simply said, before retreating, unsure of how Logia was going to take this…Kaixa simply stood there as the others watched him, gathering into a single group.

"Kusaka?" Faiz simply asked, as Kaixa slowly removed the device from his belt, holding it and pressing the "cancel" button, as the photon streams retracted, changing him back and revealing that he was in fact Kusaka.

The others shifted back as well, as Takumi approached Kusaka. "What are you doing here, Kusaka?" Kusaka looked at him coldly. "I had some unfinished business with Radia, you should know that. And now that he's gone, there's one more issue that needs resolving…"

Takumi narrowed his eyes. "And what would that be."

Kusaka sneered at him some. "These animals that you're trying to protect…"


	7. Sacrifices

Lucia stepped shamefully back onto the Neo-Organism's ship, as Logia, who had been off studying diagrams, ran back into the room to meet her.

"Lucia!" he called out to her as she walked to him. "Lucia, what happened out there? Where's Radia?"

Lucia lowered her head and said nothing as the Neo-Organism, who had been watching through the eyes of Doras, appeared in the middle of the room once again.

"Radia is no more…" he flatly stated.

"What?" replied Logia, giving him a look before looking back at Lucia. "Is this true?…"

She slowly nodded and looked up. "We had them beaten, and then he arrived…"

"Who?.." Logia looked her straight in the eyes. "Who arrived?.."

The Neo-organism turned and answered Logia's question for Lucia. "A very powerful armored warrior from Paxeria, whose name seems to be Kusaka."

Logia quickly bolted away from Lucia and clenched his fist. "Kusaka!" he growled a bit as he resisted the urge to hit something really hard. "That nuisance followed us again?"

Lucia nodded again. "Yes…he caught us off guard, and attacked Radia. I was attacked by the others, so I was outnumbered, and unable to help him…all I could do was watch Kusaka kill him…" she lowered her head again in shame.

Logia sighed heavily and shook his head, unable to believe that one of his closest comrades was now dead. He paced around the ship, wondering what he was going to do about this latest setback, as the Neo-organism suddenly spoke up.

"Now is not the time to be mourning any losses. We still have objectives to complete."

Logia then walked right up to the Neo-Organism and pointed a finger at it's face. "We're not just mindless automatons, you know…if there's an objective to complete, then we will complete it when we are well and ready too, got that?"

Lucia could feel the tension between these two as the Neo-Organism just stared at him, and replied, grudgingly. "Very well…but do not waste more time than is necessary…" With that he slowly lowered himself down into the screen and vanished.

She looked to Logia as he sat next to her on a console chair. "Logia…are you sure that teaming up with this thing was such a bright idea. There's something about this computer that makes it so…so…megalomania cal."

Logia sighed and shrugged a bit. "I know…it's quite an unusual thing to get involved with. But we have a mission to accomplish. The professor created some potentially dangerous and destructive weapons with these new suits, and we must retrieve them before they can be utilized by the Paxerians to harm us and other Impactors. And if that means that we have to cooperate with some less than savory characters, then that's what we do."

Lucia looked at Logia, and then down at a console nearby as she lowered her head. "I still can't believe he's gone…after all we'd been through together…"

Logia patted her on the back softly. "Being killed in action is a part of War, Lucia, and it's to be expected every time we go into battle…I know Radia's death is as much a shock to you as it is to me, but all we can do now is make sure he didn't die for nothing."

Lucia slowly nodded as she looked back at her commander. "I understand…"

"Animals?…did you hear what he called us? Animals? Who does he think he is?"

An Irate Shorty paced around Littlefoot and Ali as he said this.

"Calm down, Shorty." Littlefoot responded, trying to keep him from flying off the handle. "Just let Takumi and Mihara talk with the guy. We're not even exactly sure why he's here just yet."

"I don't like this guy." Ali flatly stated, looking right at Littlefoot. "There's something about him, something I see in his eyes…it's not good, I can feel it."

Littlefoot looked her in the eyes as he responded. "Now don't you go overreacting as well. I don't know about you two, but I think there's always a way to cooperate with others, even if they don't come off as the nicest of people. Just look at Cera for example, or you Shorty. We didn't get along at first, remember?"

Shorty nodded slowly "Yeah…I guess you're right. Maybe Takumi and Mihara just need to find some common ground with the guy."

As the three longnecks we talking, Takumi, Mihara, and Kusaka, were all assembled in another section of the valley, looking at each other cautiously.

"Ok Kusaka" Takumi said, breaking the silence, "How did you find out about all this?"

Kusaka wiped some dirt from his uniform as he responded. "I got my hands on some new long distance tracking equipment, that allowed me to monitor the ship Radia came in on from far off, so I didn't have to go into range of their sensors to follow them. Once I saw them land on Earth, I landed my own ship not too far from theirs, got onboard while they weren't around, and hacked into their database. The logs talked about their first encounter with the supercomputer, and the existence of the suits, and how they managed to find hosts in those animals."

Mihara shook his head. "Would you please not call them that?"

Kusaka gave Mihara a dirty look. "Well what else could they be? Huh? Look at this place. Look at them…" He shook his head gently. "Maybe you've forgotten that this is a primitive planet undeserving of technology like this, but I haven't!"

Mihara scoffed "Listen to yourself…you're barely the Kusaka I used to know anymore…"

Kusaka just looked him sternly in the eye. "Good…that's exactly the point!"

Takumi finally interjected. "Ok, that's enough you two." He addressed Kusaka. "Look, I don't care what your personal feelings are on the matter of Earthlings possessing these suits, the fact is that we've got two other Impactors, and a crazed computer who want them. And no matter what the circumstances surrounding these suits are, we CAN'T let them succeed in retrieving them. Understood?"

Mihara nodded quickly as Kusaka sighed and folded his arms. "I suppose you're right."

Takumi walked over and patted his shoulder. "Good. I'm glad to see you can still be reasonable."

Kusaka simply nodded and stood by the bike he rode in on earlier, as Takumi went to find Littlefoot and the others, with Mihara following, but stopping for a moment to stare at Kusaka, wondering if he could be trusted, before walking off.

"He's right." Kusaka thought to himself as they left the scene. "The impactors should not be allowed to have these new suits…but I wonder…is it any safer to let these creatures have them, instead of loyal Paxerians?…"

He pondered this question alone as he cleaned the tires on his bike of any mud they had picked up on the journey from outside the valley.

"So you're telling us he's ok?" Littlefoot asked Takumi, who had just found him and the others and explained to them how the conversation with Kusaka had gone.

Takumi nodded slowly. "I think I convinced him to work with us here. Granted, it's not an ideal situation to have someone as unstable as him involved, but I think he realizes how bad it would be if our enemies succeeded in killing you all and taking the suits."

Shorty shook his head a bit and gazed at Takumi. "I sure hope he does."

Mihara sighed a bit as he sat down on a log nearby. "I don't know…I guess it's just hard for me to accept what he's become now, and that makes it hard for me to trust him."

"What do you mean?" Ali asked him curiously. "What was he like before?"

Mihara looked down at the ground for a moment, before looking back at her. "Well…I've known Kusaka for many years, back when we were children as a matter of fact. See, after his parents and sister died in that attack I told you about, he was placed in the care of his Aunt, who lived in my neighborhood. I was always a friendly kid, so I got to know him immediately. But Kusaka…he was so quiet, so distant. Trauma that bad can do that to children I guess…anyway, he was never naturally gifted physically either, so that made him a popular target for bullies." He sighed and shook his head. "Some of the things those bullies did to that poor kid, it was terrible. Spent his entire childhood believing he was a weakling."

Shorty addressed Mihara next, his eyes transfixed. "That's awful. How did he end up changing so drastically then?"

Mihara rubbed his hands a bit as he continued. "Well, that happened when he first got himself into the academy, by virtue of his academic skills. People thought he was just going to be another engineer or analyst. But instead, he went out there and trained every morning, harder than anyone else I'd ever seen work at the academy, even most of our instructors. It was amazing. He never neglected his studies, but it was clear once he started winning competitions and even outperforming some instructors, that he wasn't just another analyst in waiting. There was just one problem with Kusaka…"

"What was that?" Littlefoot asked, standing very close to Mihara.

"Well, he slowly started to become a big discipline problem. He disobeyed orders frequently and just started following his own instincts, and that made a lot of people unhappy. But he didn't care. He now believed that he had survived the worst things that life had thrown at him, and he was a better, almost superior, Paxerian because of it all. And it was that arrogance that started making me a bit uncomfortable to be around him. Not too long after that was when he stole the Kaixa belt and escaped."

Ali shivered a bit as she heard all of this. "And you think someone like him is going to want to work with us?"

Takumi just paced a bit as he responded. "Well, we have to do what we can in order to keep the Impactors and the Neo-Organism from winning, and despite his problems, Kusaka's a good fighter. I think if we give him time to warm up to all of us, he could be a great asset."

Mihara nodded slowly "I know the guy still makes me a bit uncomfortable, but you've always had good instincts about these things, Tak, so I trust you."

The others simply nodded in agreement at Mihara's statement, some more uncomfortably than others.

As this was going on, Kusaka was driving around on his bike outside of the valley, just trying to relax after the tense conversation he had with Takumi and Mihara, before he suddenly saw a light in the distance, headed his way.

Kusaka pulled his bike over to the side, watching the ball of light land and materialize, revealing a familiar face as he stepped off his bike.

"So…the legendary commander Logia finally reveals himself." He grinned just a little as he reached back and pulled out his metal case, carrying the X-like "Chi" symbol, while Logia simply watched him.

"You could have let what happened in the past stay in the past, Kusaka" he said in a calm tone of voice. "You could have saved yourself a lot of pain and anguish by moving on with your life instead of holding a grudge…but instead, you've slain my best general, caused my Lieutenant to fall into a depression, and in the process you have made me quite unhappy. I don't like to get angry Kusaka, and my subordinates don't like it either."

Kusaka scoffed as he slapped the Kaixa gear around his waist. "What about me, huh? What about my anger? Do you have any idea what your best general did to me?" he shook his head. "He killed the only two people who cared about me, he cut my sister's life short! She was just a little girl!" He shouted out the last part. "I could have died with them, but no, I'm the one who has to grow up with an apathetic aunt, being taunted and tortured with no one to turn to, thinking I was nothing but a loser for years and years!"

He then got out the "henshin" device "I'm going to take it all back now." He punched in the code slowly…

9….

"The wasted years…"

1…

"The endless self pity…"

3…

"And the weakness…"

He then punched the "enter" key, as the same dark distorted voice said "STANDING BY…" He raised the device to his mouth and said "Henshin!" before sliding it into the slot onto his belt. "COMPLETE" He then held out his arms as the yellow photon streams once again encircled his body, changing him into Kaixa once more.

Logia shook his head slowly as he readied the gun at his side. "So young a Paxerian to have such pain in his heart…the least someone can do for you is put an end to all of your suffering, and it's clear from your defeating Radia, that I'm the only one who can accomplish this."

Logia then turned and quickly held out the gun with one hand, shooting powerful bullets at Kaixa as he ran towards him and withdrew his blaygun, extending the sword at the bottom as he slashed at the bullets, before using the gun section to fire a spray of yellow glowing bullets at him like a machine gun. Logia soon spun and jumped out of the way of these bullets, quickily firing two bullets in mid-air, striking Kaixa in both shoulders! Kaixa grunted and fell onto his back as Logia ran towards him, aiming the gun at his head before Kaixa quickly lifted his blaygun and hit him in the chest with another spray of bullets!

Back in the Valley, Takumi heard a beeping noise on his henshin device in the case, getting it out and opening it, looking it over.

Littlefoot ran over to him. "What is it?"

"My device is picking up a signal from the Kaixa belt, outside of the valley…Kusaka's fighting someone!"

Shorty looked at him and cocked an eyebrow. "Should we help him?"

Takumi sighed as he got out the Faiz gear and slapped it around his waist. "Look, he's just fighting one guy it looks like. You can decide this time whether you want to get involved, but I think I should at least help him."

Ali and Shorty just looked on, unsure about this as Littlefoot stepped up to him. "I'll go with you, Takumi…he needs help, and that's good enough for me."

Mihara then got up and nodded as he put on the Delta gear. "Yeah. He's still an old friend of mine, no matter what he's become. I've got to show him that I still am his friend."

Littlefoot looked back to Ali and Shorty, as Shorty spoke up. "Look, you can do what you want, but we're still not sure…but if you need help, we'll sense it and come to your aid."

Littlefoot nodded as he heard this "I understand." He then joined Takumi and Mihara as they both transformed into Faiz and Delta, and changed himself into Agito. Faiz and Delta got onto their bikes as Agito made his materialize, driving off with them to find Kaixa.

Meanwhile, Kaixa was swinging the sword part of his Blaygun at Logia, who expertly dodged every swipe before kicking him in the stomach, and smashing him in the helmet with a spinning backhand! Kusaka tried to aim his gun, only to have Logia grip his wrist and twist his arm, making him drop it as he cried out in pain.

"I'm not going to let you off easy with a quick death…" Logia said as he held Kaixa's arm. "I'm going to very slowly tear this arm from it's socket, so you can feel every agonizing second…then I'm going to work on the other one…"

Kaixa gave him a defiant look under his helmet, trying to think of a way out of this, before something came by and slashed Logia over the back!

Logia fell back and saw the figure of Agito on his bike, in his red form with his sword extended as he got off the bike, with Faiz and Delta getting off of their bikes too, as Faiz suddenly pulled a sword from one of the bike's handles, while Delta readied his gun.

"It seems you have some allies now…" Logia said as he looked at Kaixa. "We shall finish this another time, once I have the proper forces assembled." Kaixa got up and tried to shoot him as he changed back into a ball of light and flew away.

Kaixa hunched over a bit as Agito came over and patted him on the back. "Hey there…you ok?…"

Kaixa stayed silent, and simply responded by raising his blaygun and shooting Agito in the stomach!

"Kusaka!" Faiz yelled as Agito stumbled and fell from the blast.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mihara shouted. "I thought we had an agreement!"

Kaixa stared down at Agito as he caught his breath and slowly got up. "You were right about one thing, Takumi…the Impactors shouldn't be allowed to take possession of these suits…but there's only one way that they can ever be safely in Paxerian hands…" He fired his gun at Littlefoot again as he dodged the blast.

Delta quickly responded by firing his own gun, hitting Kaixa on the arm. "That settles it! You're really not the Kusaka I know anymore!"

Kaixa scoffed. "Fine…you were never a true friend to me anyway…always holding me back and laughing about me when I wasn't around…I'm glad I'm not who I used to be, Mihara, cause I'm not your doormat anymore!"

Delta shook his head. "You've lost it, you know that? That weaponry's going to your head!"

Kaixa readied his gun once more "You're the one who's gone crazy! Protecting these wild animals! I'm the only one who knows the answer is to get these suits off of them, and if that means killing them to do it, FINE!"

He then charged Agito, clashing blades with him as Delta and Faiz ran in, trying to restrain Kaixa, who simply threw them both off. Delta fired his gun as Kaixa dodged the shots, and Faiz slashed at him with his sword, clashing blades with him as Agito took a few swings with his own sword.

Kaixa then became angry and looked at Agito. "I said, DON'T TOUCH ME!" he then powered up his blaygun and broke off from the two, spinning and letting a barrage of yellow glowing bullets fly as they all hit Agito, Faiz, and Delta.

The three warriors fell and clutched at their wounds as Kaixa set his sights on Agito, taking the charger from his belt and attaching it to his blaygun.

"READY"

Kaixa looked to Agito as he rose onto his feet once more. "Now to do what these other two cowards can't bring themselves to…" he flipped the device open on his belt and pressed the enter key as the voice said "EXCEED CHARGE"

Agito got into a defensive position, unaware that Shorty and Ali, who were now Gillis and Chalice, were riding onto the scene, ready to fight Kaixa off, but they were too late…

Kaixa readied himself, his blade glowing as he ran straight towards Agito, ready to finish him off with the sword on his blaygun. He charged in and extended the blade!…

Agito readied himself to defend the finisher, knowing fully well it might have been the end for him, before something happened. From out of nowhere, Delta leaped in front of Agito, and took the full brunt of Kaixa's finisher!

"MIHARA!" Takumi yelled as Kaixa turned in shock to see Delta sputtring and falling over as his suit vanished, the delta gear falling off as Mihara hit the ground. He didn't turn to dust, but the impact was fatal, as he began to spit up blood and grunt softly in agony, shivering.

Kaixa kept looking to Mihara as he shook his head.

"Look what you did…and for what?…another animal…what a waste…"

He quickly got onto his bike and drove off as Takumi quickly ran over to his fallen comrade, changing back in a flash as he kneeled down and cradled him in his arms. "Mihara!…Mihara!…c'mon, stay with me!"

Mihara opened his eyes and just stared at Takumi. "I…told you…it was a bad…idea…to…trust him…"

Takumi held his friend close as his eyes began to well up with tears. "C'mon Mihara, hang in there…I can get you to the ship in no time, I'll get you fixed up, all you have to do is hang on."

Mihara sighed softly "I'm sorry…Tak…" he slowly began to lose consciousness…

Ali let her tears flow openly as she and the others watched Takumi take his friend's hand in his own. "Don't be afraid…" he said as his own tears flowed…"I'm sure you'll find favor with the great creator…you gave your life for someone you barely knew…you're a good soul…remember that…"

Mihara smiled a bit as he closed his eyes. "Th…thank…you…Tak…my…friend…" a single tear flowed from his eye, as he breathed his last breath, and went limp in Takumi's arms…

Mihara was gone…

Ali sobbed softly as she leaned into Littlefoot, who looked on and shed a few tears of his own, as Shorty lowered his head and angrily stomped the ground with a foot, a tear seeping from his own eye as well.

Takumi then lowered Mihara's body, and gently picked up the Delta gear from the ground. He looked at it, then at Mihara as he gripped it tightly in his hand.

"My old friend…" he thought to himself "Forgive me for my mistake… I'm going to right all of this, somehow…that bastard Kusaka now has Paxerian blood on his hands…And I'm not about to let him forget that fact!…I'm going going to show him, and our enemies, what I and these "animals" can do!"…


	8. Another Ally?

As Takumi mourned the loss of his friend, while Littlefoot and the others looked on sadly, Kusaka watched from the distance. It wasn't an easy thing for him to see. Mihara was a close acquaintance of his from when he first joined the academy. Even though they grew apart very slowly, Kusaka never thought that he could ever actually bring himself to kill Mihara.

He shook his head again. "You poor misguided fellow; you threw it all away, great power, a future of glory and fame that would have been heaped upon you, and for what? These damned animals, which were all of a sudden so important to you?"

He fully packed the Kaixa gear as he got onto his bike, looking back one last time. "I truly hope that no other Paxerian has to die here. Takumi…let's hope to the creator that you aren't as foolish as Mihara was."

He then revved up his bike, and drove off to plan his next offensive.

Time passed, and everyone was in the valley again, as Takumi went off and landed his ship closer to the entrance, having wrapped mihara's body in the sheets from his bunk on the ship, and placed him into the cryonic unit to keep his body preserved. Takumi wanted to be sure that his body was in good enough shape for a traditional burial shroud at home.

As this went on, Bron and some other adults, as well as Littlefoot's friends, listened on sympathetically as Takumi explained what happened to the ally they barely knew.

"I knew it!" Shorty stomped the ground angrily. "I knew that guy couldn't be trusted!"

Bron tried to calm him down as Ali just looked at Takumi sullenly. "Why, Takumi? Why did you ever think there was anything decent still left in this guy?"

Littlefoot looked at them both. "Calm down you two. Takumi may not be like us, but even his kind can make mistakes like we can." He sighed "What happened was really sad, we all know that. It hurts to lose someone close to you. I know all about that, so I can imagine what you're going through now, Takumi."

Takumi nodded gently. "Thanks, Littlefoot. That means a lot to me." He looked at the others too. "And I can promise you all that as long as I'm here, I'm going to make sure that what happened to Mihara doesn't happen to any of you. If Kusaka ever shows his face around here again, you'll be damn sure that I'll be ready."

Shorty slowly stepped up to him. "Correction, Tak…" he said, remembering Mihara's nickname for him. "…We'll be ready."

Ali nodded as she stepped up too, and Littlefoot stood next to her. Takumi smiled and nodded back to all three of the adolescent warriors.

"Ok then…" he replied as he held up a patch from a familiar uniform. "For Mihara…"

Littlefoot looked to the patch, and back at Takumi as he responded. "For Mihara…"

Back on the Ship of the Neo-Organism, Logia left Lucia, who was busy practicing with one of her weapons in the room below, to go check on things in the main room. He discovered that the computer screens were buzzing with activity, as Doras looked on at each one, apparently supervising something as Logia looked to the center of the room again.

"And just what are you up to this time?" Logia asked the green screen as the form of the Neo-Organism rose from it again, taking shape.

"Since you have been unable to dispose of our enemies and take back the suits thus far." It spoke "I am currently divising new ways in which to assist you. If things are allowed to continue as they have been, I don't think even Doras will be able to stop it." Doras simply growled as he looked on.

Logia simply walked around the room, not paying attention to what this delusional computer was telling him. He knew that taking out any powerful enemy was going to take a certain amount of time, and wasn't about to let this impatient computer push him into anything.

"I understand your concerns" Logia simply responded as he walked back to the middle. "But I find that when I face a difficult opponent, it's best to take some time to get to now the enemy, see what makes them tick basically."

The Neo-Organism just looked at him. "Oh? And how exactly are you going to do that? I don't think these creatures are simply going to invite you over for a meal."

Logia chuckled just a little as he headed out of the room once more. "Oh don't worry about. I have other methods by which I can achieve these means." He opened the door and left, heading back to where Lucia was practicing.

"Now what could that Impactor be up to this time?" The Neo Organism asked himself as the computers continued to click and buzz in their never-ending research mode. "Doras…keep an eye on them both. Make sure they're not plotting anything too…risky."

Doras growled in response as he turned and headed off in Logia's direction, opening the door and walking into the passage as the Neo-Organism slowly sank back into the green screen below, vanishing as it continued the research. On a monitor nearby was a status screen, showing the conditions of the Agito, Gillis, and Chalice suits. Next to them were three other blank screens, which read: "Location unknown…"

Cera walked up to Littlefoot as his other friends followed behind.

"Hey Littlefoot. How're you holding up?"

Littlefoot looked to Cera and simply smiled as best he could. "Oh…about as good as I can, considering the situation."

Ducky nodded slowly as she sat near him. "I know what you mean. I mean, all of a sudden, these two guys come from out of nowhere, trying to help us, we find out there's a third who's not so good, and now one of them is gone."

Petrie sighed a bit as he perched himself on a rock. "I don't even want to think about it sometimes. It just makes my head hurt."

Spike chuckled. "That's not too surprising, seeing as how you have such a tiny head." The others laughed a bit as Petrie let out a little "Shut up…" before laughing some himself.

"But I've got to say, we're all proud of you, especially me." Cera grinned as she tried to cheer up her friend. "It must feel great, being able to transform like that and fight for everyone, saving the valley from all those creatures that come in."

Littlefoot chuckled a bit. "What are you talking about Cera. It's not like we as a group haven't done anything to help everyone in this valley before."

Cera grinned as she nodded in response. "I know, I know…but this is different. I feel like you're fighting for something that's…bigger than all of us put together, something beyond the Valley now. And I wish that I could be a part of that, and help you."

Littlefoot smiled "Well, that's certainly nice to hear Cera. And I guess I can give you the one consolation in letting you know that every time I go out there to fight, I have you all in my head, and my desire to protect you and everyone in my heart, and that gives me the will to fight. So, in a way, you're already helping me."

Cera looked to him happily as Ducky smiled as well. "You have no idea how glad we are to hear that." Spike and Petrie nodded as they agreed with her too.

Meanwhile, Ali was off all alone, contemplating certain things in her head. So much had been happening to her over the past few days. The awakening of her powers, the devastation of her herd, and now the death of one of her new friends.

She looked over as she heard footsteps, and saw Shorty walking right towards her.

"Hey…wanna talk for a minute?" Shorty asked as he approached her.

"What makes you think I'm in the mood for talking?" Ali asked him suspiciously, and curiously.

Shorty shrugged as he walked closer. "Call it a guess. Whenever I have a lot of things on my mind, I tend to go off someplace by myself to ponder all of them at once. I figure anyone else with so much stuff on their mind would probably start doing the same thing."

"I guess I do have a lot of things on my mind." Ali smiled a little as she looked to the ground, and then to Shorty. "Can you blame me though, with everything that's been going on?"

Shorty chuckled a little as he sat next to her. "Nope…No I guess I can't can I."

Ali sighed a bit as she looked at the ground again. "Do you know what it's like?…living in uncertainty all the time?"

Shorty scoffed a bit. "Uncertainty? Are you kidding? That was the only thing I lived in for a long time, until Littlefoot and everyone else came into my life."

Ali just looked at him again. "But what do you think of all this? What do you think of these powers we got that we didn't ask for? What do you think now that there's somebody else out there who wants to kill us in addition to our enemies? What do you think-"

"That's just it…" Shorty cut her off, looking back at her. "That's one thing separating you and me right now…I don't think."

Ali looked at him strangely. "You don't?…"

Shorty shook his head "Nope…at least not about things that I can't go back and change. Oh sure I was a little perplexed at first when my powers first woke up, but time's gone by, I've gotten used to it, and I just accept it as a part of me. I don't think over it all the time….I just act."

"You just act, huh?" Ali asked as she chuckled a bit and shook her head. "I'm not so sure I can do it as simply as you can."

"Of course you can." Shorty grinned as he rolled in the grass a bit. "All you have to do is take all that regret, all that uncertainty, and shove it down into the pit of stomach so you can make room in your head for all the stuff that matters."

"Like what?" Ali asked him, out of curiosity.

"Well, stuff like love, and caring, and that sense of justice deep down inside of you, the part of you that drives you to do things you never thought you could do before, all in the name of the things you hold dear, like your family, or your herd for instance."

Ali smiled a bit as she looked at Shorty laying care-free in the grass. "Well…I guess that sounds easy enough. I'll have to see if that works for me though."

"Well, you know what they say" Shorty responded. "The first time's usually the hardest."

Ali giggled a bit as she nodded, already trying to put the troubling thoughts in the back of her mind as she rolled in the grass with Shorty a bit.

Time passed, and Takumi still had the door of his ship opened as he spent his time looking through some old pictures of himself and Mihara on a computer screen. He was still trying to come to terms with the fact that his friend was gone, and hadn't been talking much since he told the others of Mihara's death.

So he didn't notice the curious Ducky coming onto the ship by herself, looking around to see if she could find Takumi and ask how he was doing. Once she was onboard, her eyes were wide open with amazement and even more curiosity at the sight of all the otherworldly objects and gadgets on board.

She looked over and saw something laying on a table nearby. It was Mihara's discarded Delta gear, the belt stretched out it's entire length as the "henshin" device lay nearby.

She walked over with a look of absolute wonder in her eyes as she picked up the device, looking it over in her hands as she examined the strange symbols, the numbers on the pad, and the Delta symbol on the corner.

"Hey…I wouldn't play with that" She heard a voice call out as she looked up and saw Takumi looking at her. "That's a very dangerous piece of equipment that only guys like me should use."

"I'm sorry" Ducky blushed sheepishly as she put the device back onto the table "I just wanted to take a look."

Takumi smiled a bit as he remembered that someone like Ducky had never been in a ship like this, and was only naturally curious about everything he did. He decided to indulge her, just as a way to forget about Mihara for a while, and walked over next to the adolescent duckbill, picking up the device and showing it to her in more detail.

"Ok, so this is what allows someone to transform into Delta in the first place. All the power for the photon streams is located in the cells of this thing, which is activated by this number pad." He showed Ducky the pad as she nodded and watched in amazement.

"Wow…so that little thing controls everything in the suit?"

Takumi nodded and chuckled. "Yeah., pretty much. But first you need the access code in order to start the thing up." He demonstrated by pressing "3…3…3" on the pad, then letting her watch as he hit the enter key. The device then said "Standing by…" and made a pulsing noise while it waited. "Then all you have to do is say 'Henshin' into the little microphone here, and slide it into the slot on the side of this belt." He then smiled as he pressed the cancel button, and the device powered down and shut itself off.

"Wow" said Ducky as she marveled at the device and everything that Takumi was telling him. "Wait a minute…I heard about this before… Isn't this Delta gear the one that anyone can use?" she asked, her eyes showing a glimmer of excitement.

Takumi sighed as he picked up the device and the belt, putting them away. "Now don't YOU go getting ideas about trying to help us. This has been a very dangerous situation we've gotten ourselves into, and we already lost one of our friends for getting involved in it. I don't want to put you or anyone else at risk. Understand?"

"Yes" Ducky simply responded, looking at the floor.

"Good…now go home and get some rest. It's getting late."

Ducky nodded slowly as she walked off the ship, and Takumi sat back down at the console. He looked through some more pictures, remembering old times as he suddenly heard a beeping on one of the other screens. He turned to it to see a signal heading towards the valley…an all too familiar signal…

Everyone was asleep now, as night had fallen over the valley. Not a creature was stirring, except for the one in silver and black armor, with yellow stripes, very slowly walking into the valley, from the mountains above having parked his bike earlier.

Kusaka quietly leapt from rock to rock in his Kaixa gear, his night vision in his helmet helping him look for the specific dinosaurs with the suits.

"I should've done this earlier, and saved myself a lot of trouble" he thought to himself as he looked around. "Just find them all while they're sleeping, take them out, get the suits back, and take them back to Paxeria where they belong…"

He looked left and right as he approached the edge of the mountains, looking far down below for any evidence of the dinosaurs he saw earlier. He looked to his right as he saw something suddenly flying towards him…it was a laser blast!

Kaixa had no time to react as the blast clipped him right on the shoulder, causing him to tumble back onto the mountains as Takumi quickly leapt up to his level on the mountains, fully clad in his Faiz gear, his pistol aimed at him.

"I was wondering where you'd run off to…" Kaixa said as he slowly got back onto his feet.

"You should know me well enough to know I'd never run, you sorry son of a bitch!" Faiz yelled, putting away his pistol.

"So what now?" Kaixa asked. "Aren't your animal friends going to come and help you?"

Faiz slowly shook his head. "No Kusaka…this is between you, and me…You sent Mihara to heaven prematurely…so I'm gonna balance things out today, and send you to hell prematurely!"

"Strong words, Takumi…" Kaixa responded as he readied his blaygun. "Are you sure you're ready to come and back them up?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life." Takumi said as he reached and pulled out the sword from his bike, which he had tied to his back.

The two faced each other down before Takumi yelled out "MIHARA!" and charged towards Kaixa with his sword at the ready. Kaxia then extended his sword part of his Blaygun, and met Faiz with swing of the blade, the two swords catching as the two struggled against each other. Kaixa then kicked Faiz away as he tumbled down the mountains a bit, while Kaixa moved in for the kill, swing his blade diagonally as Faiz dodged and blocked each swing, countering with swings of his own as a beautiful, but deadly display of swordsmanship went on along the out skirts of the valley.

Kaixa then grunted in frustration as he cocked, and fired a machine gun spray of bullets from his blaygun, which pelted Faiz repeatedly along the chest, as he yelled out in pain and fell onto his knee for a moment, recovering from the intense heat and pain as Kaixa made a swipe for his head. Faiz soon blocked the attack just in time with his sword, before pulling out his gun at the same time, and shooting Kaixa right in the helmet!

Kaixa shouted out in agony as sparks flew from the helmet, falling back and grunting in pain as Faiz yelled and raised his sword, yelling "KUSAKA!" trying many times to fell Kaixa in one blow, but finding Kaixa still able to block and dodge his attacks. The tide suddenly turned as Kaixa found an opening, and grabbed Faiz's arm, throwing him off and sending him to the ground as he readied his blaygun for a fatal spray of bullets.

"This ends now!" Kaixa yelled, as he prepared to let Faiz have it…

But just as Faiz was preparing for the worst, something suddenly came out from nowhere, throwing off the aimed blaygun, and knocking Kaixa off to the side with a shoulder tackle!

Faiz looked up to see a warrior standing over him, but it wasn't Agito…or Gillis…or even Chalice…This warrior was much more muscular looking, wearing dark green armor with gold plated parts along the chest and mask, with two big purple eyes along the helmet. He held a large heavy staff, with a tri-bladed tip made of circular blades that resembled the club symbol on a deck of cards.

Faiz looked on in amazement as Kaixa got up and stared at the warrior, getting his blaygun. "What?…another one?…another animal?"

The warrior said nothing, and simply got into a fighting stance with the staff.

"Fine" Kaixa scoffed. "Just more fun to be had by me!"

He then fired off a spray of bullets from his blaygun, which the warrior blocked expertly with his staff as he swung it around. Kaixa fired and fired until he became frustrated and ran in with the blade extended on his blaygun, yelling "DIE!"

But he was met with another shock as the Warrior simply swung his staff, and knocked away the blaygun again with ease, then letting him have it with a barrage of swings and slices from his bladed staff, before finally kicking Kaixa away from him. He then leapt into the air and grunted as he brought down the back end of his staff with a loud thud against the ground, causing a small earthquake in the immediate area, which shook Kaixa around.

Faiz watched as Kaixa got back onto his feet, and pressed a button to summon his bike, which drove over to him. "Don't think you've won!" he yelled to Faiz and the warrior, as he quickly retreated from the scene.

Faiz scoffed. "A coward as always" he said as he got back onto his feet, and turned to see the warrior walking away.

"Hey wait!" he yelled. "Who in the world are you?"

The warrior didn't respond as he simply got onto his parked bike and drove off to nowhere in particular.

Faiz stood there for what seemed like an eternity, before taking out his device and hitting the cancel button, changing back.

"Was that another suit?…" he asked himself as he walked back to the valley. "I'd better tell the others…"


	9. More questions

Morning had come to the valley once again, the sun creeping over the mountains, illuminating them for another day. Takumi had been spending his time in his ship since the fight with Kaixa last night, resting as he wondered on and on whom the suited figure that had saved him was.

As this was going on, Shorty was in his Gillis outfit, practicing some moves in an out of the way place, jumping and running a bit as he grunted, before chopping some rocks in half with some powerful punches. He also roared a bit as he shot out the tendrils from his wrists, wrapping them around branches nearby as he practiced with them, trying to make them more effective than ever.

Gillis looked on at the branches as he caught his breath, retracting his tendrils into his wrists as he stood and looked to the outskirts of the Valley.

"Yeah…you just try and get me now Kusaka…" He muttered to himself. "This 'animal' will be ready for you." He then laughed a bit as he grunted and kicked a big tree a few times swiftly; trying out his spin kicks a little as he suddenly heard a voice.

"Well…you're up early."

Gillis turned to see Grandma looking at him. He then nodded a bit as he shifted back into his normal self.

"Well, I was feeling a bit restless, so I thought I'd get up and exercise a bit."

"I see" Grandma said as she walked over and saw the slightly beat up tree. "You should be careful next time. We do like to eat off those, you know." She chuckled a bit as she got a few leaves down from the tree for Shorty. "You remember eating don't you? It's something you can do instead of fighting."

"I know, I know." Shorty smiled a bit as he leaned over and took a few bites. "Mmm..wow, I didn't realize how hungry I was until now…guess I had too much on my mind to realize it."

Grandma looked at him as her smile faded a little. "Like revenge, right?"

Shorty sighed, and stayed silent for a moment, before shaking his head. It was clear that he couldn't deceive this older longneck at all.

"It just wasn't fair." He said out loud. "I barely got to know the guy. I didn't even have a chance to properly apologize to him for attacking, and all of a sudden he's dead. If only I'd gotten to Littlefoot sooner…"

"Then you'd be the dead one" Grandma simply responded.

Shorty huffed a bit in frustration. "Well, what do you know about it, huh? What could you possibly know about losing someone who didn't have to be lost in the first place?"

Grandma looked at him sternly. "I know more about it then you think I do. You have no idea what my life was like until now…I have a lot in common with you, Shorty."

Shorty gave her a strange look. "You?…no offense, Grandma, but I find that a little hard to believe."

Grandma smiled just a little as she gazed at him. "Well, I wasn't born a kind, sweet old lady, you know. That part of me took years to develop."

"Really?" Shorty looked up at her with an amazed gaze, very interested in what she had to say.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe what my life was like before. See, I was orphaned just like you were when I was young. I went from herd to herd, though I mostly kept to myself. I quarreled with other longnecks often, and as I got older I started recklessly fighting sharpteeth by myself." She turned and showed him a faint, but visible scar on her right hind leg. "That's how I got this beauty."

Shorty went wide-eyed as he heard all of this. "Wow…but what made you change your ways?"

Grandma smiled as she continued. "I met my husband of course. He was very bright, but such an introvert most of the time, but he seemed to have a strange interest in me. I didn't care for him much at first, in fact I even tail-slapped him a few times when he got too close."

Shorty laughed a bit as Grandma chuckled, before going on. "But then he finally conquered his fears, and helped me save his herd from those three sharpteeth…and I could see how much he cared for me. Nobody had ever cared for me to put them self in danger of death like that. I fell in love with him immediately afterward. And after I had Bron, it was like a part of me had finally found some peace. And that was when I settled down."

Shorty nodded a bit as Grandma leaned closer to him. "Look, I know you're frustrated, and hurt, and angry right now, but that Mihara fellow sacrificed himself because he cared about you and every one here, just like there are people here in the valley who care about you. Don't forget about them, like I forgot about my husband for so long. Otherwise it might be too late when you finally realize it."

Shorty nodded a little as he smiled some. "Thanks, Grandma."

Grandma gave him a light nuzzling. "Anytime, Shorty." She then slowly walked off before turning and adding. "Oh, and pick up your legs more when you run"

Shorty chuckled "Ok, will do." He smiled as he ate some more of his breakfast hungrily.

"Another suit?" Littlefoot asked Takumi, who had just arrived to him, and his friend to tell him of this news, as Shorty was still off eating and practicing. "Are you sure?"

"I can't think of anything else it could be. It has to be another one of the professor's suits." Takumi responded.

Ali piped up after this. "Well, maybe we should call the grasshopper, get the information from him."

Takumi sighed as this was mentioned. "Well, I thought of that earlier…but when I got back to my ship, look at what I found…"

Everyone's jaw dropped when he pulled out the smashed up remains of the tiny android.

"Oh no." Littlefoot said, breaking the stunned silence. "Can it be fixed?"

"Well, it's very advanced technology, but I can certainly give it a try…but I've already got some information after patching what remained of it's cpu into the ship's computer."

"Oh?" Ali asked "And what did you find out?"

Takumi looked at her and Littlefoot as he responded. "Well, I wasn't able to find out the identity of the user unfortunately, but I did find this…" He whipped out his device and punched a few special buttons, as an image of the suit he saw last night popped up on a hologram viewer for all to see.

"This is Mochizuki's model 690125, code name: Leangle. This particular model is designed to be the perfect balance between strength and speed. The model is quite large and bulky, thus capable of great strength, but it can also run faster than most organic creatures if need be."

"Sounds impressive" Littlefoot responded as he looked at the image in astonishment. "He sure looks like someone I wouldn't to make angry."

"And that's not all" Takumi continued. "I probed into more of what the data droid might have known, and I came up with another shocking discovery." He looked right at Littlefoot and Ali as he revealed the information. "There are two other suits we haven't discovered yet."

Ali gasped and gazed right at Takumi. "Really? Are you sure?"

Takumi nodded "I have the data right here…" he punched a few buttons as the image of a blue- and silver colored suit appeared. "Model 477231, Code Name: Blade…" he pressed a button as the image vanished and the picture of another suit came up, this one silver with burgundy coverings. "And Model 992161, Code Name: Garren."

Littlefoot tilted his head a bit as he saw these other new designs. "Amazing…but how are we going to find them if the grasshopper isn't working anymore?"

Takumi shrugged. "Well, it looks like we'll just have to let them find us, like Leangle did. The one thing we have going for us is that the Neo Organism seems to have a hard time finding the suits before they've activated inside of their hosts' bodies. He can pick up faint signals here and there, but nothing solid."

Littlefoot looked on at the designs displayed on the viewer before looking back at Takumi. "Then, I hope whoever these suits are inside of will find us before the enemy finds them. We don't need anyone else ending up like Mihara."

Time passed after this conversation, and Shorty was eventually told what Takumi had told them. And as this was going on, Ducky was relating her experience on Takumi's ship to Cera, Spike, and Petrie.

"Wow…he actually let you look at the thing?" Cera asked, her eyes wide open in astonishment.

Ducky giggled "Yeah…I guess maybe he needed something to do, but he showed me how it works and everything."

"Wow." Petrie exclaimed. "It's almost as if he's grooming you to be the new Delta, Ducky."

"Oh, come on Petrie" Ducky laughed at this notion. "Why would he want to do that?"

"I don't know" He shrugged. "But then again, why would those other suits choose Littlefoot, Shorty, and Ali?"

Ducky scoffed a bit. "Well, I don't think Takumi is seriously considering something like that. I think he could tell just from seeing me that I wouldn't be much of a fighter."

"Ducky, everyone has a chance to be a great fighter" Cera jumped in. "It all depends on how much exposure to it you've had, and how much you're willing to do and learn from it, right Spike?"

Spike just smiled and simply nodded. "I think you're right Cera. I think if she had enough practice, my sis could really kick some butt around here." He grinned as the others, including Ducky, laughed.

Meanwhile, Shorty had just arrived and was being briefed on what Takumi had just told Littlefoot and Ali, before they suddenly heard a voice call out. "Help me!"

They all turned to see a frightened female Flyer swooping into the valley, with a very frantic look on her face, as if she had just seen something truly horrifying.

Littlefoot immediately ran to her side. "What is it? What's wrong?"

The Flyer looked at her wide-eyed and told her tale. "Oh, it was terrible. This big thing just suddenly came down from the sky and landed on the ground…there were all these weird creatures in it…one of them had a shiny black body…"

"Logia" Takumi simply said softly.

Ali ran to her side. "Was there another creature too…an ugly one with a green body and big antennae?"

The flyer simply nodded. "Yes…but how would you know about that?"

Ali just looked at her, not sure how to answer as Takumi walked up to her. "Do you know where this thing landed exactly?"

The Flyer nodded and pointed out from the valley. "It landed in the swamplands, a few miles from here."

"Ok then" He looked to Littlefoot, Ali and Shorty as he walked over and picked up his Faiz Gear case. "Let's go have a look around, guys."

The others nodded quickly and ran off with him, getting ready to transform as they disappeared from view of the female flyer.

At this point the flyer, now all alone, smiled widely, reaching up and hitting a hidden communications button on her neck as she softly spoke, "I'm in…"

Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and Cera were all sitting around as they suddenly saw Faiz, Agito, Gillis, and Chalice on their bikes, pulling up a few feet away from them.

"Whoa, hey guys!" Cera exclaimed as they appeared. "Duty calls again, huh?"

Agito simply nodded as Faiz looked over at Ducky. "I've got a favor to ask you Ducky…"

"What is it?" She responded, curiously.

Faiz tossed her the Delta driver, minus the belt, which she caught in her hands. "Use that to keep in touch with us. If something should happen here while we're away, just enter my access code, 555." He pointed her out to the specific number on the keypad. "You'll be able to get in contact with me that way. Just speak into the microphone on the driver."

Ducky nodded as she handled the device, while Cera looked over at it curiously along with the others. "Ok Takumi. I won't let you down."

Faiz nodded as Gillis revved up his bike. "Ok then, let's get going!"

Chalice nodded softly in response as the group of heroes left the valley, heading in the direction the flyer pointed them to.

As they were driving along the earth, Gillis looked over at Chalice. "Now remember what I told you…" he said to her. "Don't think too much…just act!"

"Right Shorty…I'll remember" Chalice responded as they drove further off into the direction of the swamplands.

Meanwhile, Ducky still held the driver in her hands as Petrie looked over it with Cera.

"Wow, that thing's pretty neat looking…but where's the belt that goes with it."

Ducky shook her head and smiled to him. "I already told you Petrie, he doesn't want me messing around with that thing."

"Maybe he just doesn't think you can handle it just yet" Cera responded with a smile. "Maybe you could swipe it from him when he's not looking, and prove him wrong."

"Now why would I want to do something like that?" Ducky laughed, hiding her own curiosity over the Delta Gear, even though the others seemed to see right through her anyway.

"Ah, come on Ducky" Spike chuckled as he walked over to her. "I remember the look on your face when you told me about Takumi showing this to you. You looked like you would've slapped that belt on right there if he had let you."

"But that's just it, Spike" Ducky responded with a smile. "He doesn't want me to put it on, and I'm going to respect that."

"For now, you mean." Petrie said with a laugh as Ducky just smiled and narrowed her eyes, shaking her head at him.

Out in the swamplands that they were directed to, Agito, Faiz, Gillis and Chalice drove in from the woods nearby, stopping their bikes as they got off and walked around, seeing the bubbling swamp water around them as they searched for any sign of the impactor's ship.

"Can you sense anything?" Faiz asked Agito as they searched.

Agito simply shook his head slowly. "No…I'm not picking up anything the least bit threatening."

"Neither are we" Responded Chalice, who was walking with Gillis.

"What do you think this means?" Gillis asked as he frantically looked around the trees and rocks and water, seeing all sorts of lizards and insects, but no Impactors.

"It might be the one thing I feared this would be…" Faiz said as two big green feet stepped slowly from the shadows, just out of view.

"What?" Asked Chalice as the figure stepped out into the open.

Faiz quickly turned and responded, "A trap!"

Agito's senses suddenly kicked in, along with those in Gillis and Chalice, as they all immediately dove out of the way from the laser shots sent by Doras' shoulder cannon!

Doras stepped onto the scene and growled loudly as three creatures he recently created stepped out from the shadows as well. They had humanoid shapes, but were clearly derived from the fearsome scorpion. Their barbed tails whipped around as they hissed and snapped their claws in anticipation, as Faiz went to his bike and withdrew his sword from the handle bar.

As the others got ready to fight, Logia stepped out from behind some trees as well, laughing a little, tauntingly. "Now we've got you all right where we want you, away from your valley…away from your ship."

"You knew we were coming?" Gillis growled, as he got ready to fight.

"Of course" Logia said, as he looked to the group. "Didn't that Paxerian tell you…this is a trap." He laughed a bit as he readied his gun. "You fell for the story of the operative we sent into the valley…Lucia's always been so good with disguises…"

"Lucia?" Faiz stepped forward. "What are you planning to do with her, Logia?"

"You want more information?" Logia said as he cocked his gun. "Then you're going to have to beat it out of me…"

"Happy to oblige you!" Gillis yelled out as he ran towards Logia, crying out in rage. Logia quickly spun with his gun and shot it, hitting Gillis in the shoulder with the shot as he yelled in pain and fell onto his back from the force!

"Shorty!" Chailce yelled, as she tried to run over and help him, only to be met with a swing from a scorpion's tail! She quickly ducked to avoid the barb, and slashed the creature away with her bow, relying on her instincts now as she ignored her vendetta with Doras, who was simply standing and watching her from a distance.

Faiz ran over and fired shots from his own pistol at Logia, as Agito quickly ducked and kicked at two scorpions teaming up on him. They slashed and swung their tails at him as he dodged and dodged, before kicking them both out of the way and instinctively using a new ability he just discovered in his mind, reaching into his belt and pulling out the sword from his flame form, and the staff of his typhoon form, holding them out as his body became a mix of red and blue, achieving the "Trinity" form of his suit!

Gillis got back up as he saw this, and ran in to assist his ally as Logia fired his gun at Faiz, and at Chalice, who was now firing back with her energy arrows from her bow, as she used them to keep the other scorpion at bay too.

Faiz tried to get in close to nail Logia with a few power moves, but Logia was just too good, and caught Faiz by the arm, kicking him repeatedly in chest before tossing him aside.

Gillis rushed in and caught one scorpion off guard with a jump kick, as Agito slashed at the other one with his two weapons, gracefully and expertly as he whirled the sword and brought it down, lopping off one of the claws on the scorpion! The creature shrieked in pain and tried to let Agito have it with it's tail, as he ducked and quickly brought up the bladed staff, lopping off the barbed end of it's tail as well! Doras watched on in surprise at the display of power, as Agito then quickly brought up both the weapons and slashed them across each other, taking off the monster's head finally as its body fell over and exploded from the power Agito used to do it!

Gills continued to fight with the second scorpion, dodging and kicking furiously before the creature found an opening, and wrapped him up in its tail, holding him firmly as it readie3d its stinger for a finishing blow.

Chalice saw this, and, acting on her instincts once more, kicked the third scorpion aside, and let fly an energy arrow that would have hit Gillis if she had not been careful. Instead, it hit the scorpion right in the eye! The creature shrieked in pain and let go of Gillis as he roared out and let the blades grow on the back of his feet, jumping into the sky and coming down with his right heel, burying a blade in the monster's shoulder as he roared out in triumph, kicking himself off of the scorpion as it exploded!

Logia was still fighting close quarters with Faiz, neither side gaining an advantage this time, as Doras growled in frustration, letting another barrage of laser blasts fly from his shoulder cannon. Agito, Chalice, and Gillis were all hit as they fell back, grunting as the one remaining scorpion walked up next to both Doras, and Logia as he sent Faiz flying with a well placed jump kick.

The group of heroes got back on their feet, facing down Logia, Doras, and the monster as they walked closer.

"You're all much more powerful than I expected" Logia said, as he cocked his gun one more time. "Not that it matters much now…the scorpions may not have killed you, but I won't let that distract me from adding a few more stats to my lifetime kills…"

Doras simply growled, as if to say "Get on with it…" as the group of warriors got ready for another attack. Logia laughed softly and got ready to fire some lethal blasts from his gun…

A blast was heard afterward, but not from Logia's gun, as another blast came in from the side, and smashed into Logia's shooting hand! Logia yelled out in frustration as the force made him drop his gun, pieces of his outer shell flying from the force as he grunted and turned!

The others turned as well, seeing a figure only familiar from the screen that Takumi had showed them earlier, a figure in silver and burgundy armor, its outstretched right arm holding a large gun which had just been fired!

"What in the name of…" Logia exclaimed as he faced the armored figure.

Agito gasped and looked to the others. "It's Garren!"

Faiz simply nodded as Gillis and Chalice looked on in amazement.

Doras growled and looked to the Scorpion, pointing to Garren as the Scorpion nodded slightly and took off, charging right towards the new warrior. Garren simply let the monster have it with a barrage of laser blasts that sounded almost like bullets as they were fired, smacking into the creature's chest with great force!

The Scorpion shrieked in pain as it stood there, trembling from the force of the blows as Garren simply put away his gun, and jumped into the sky, somersaulting as a flash came over him, and two of him were now twirling in mid-air over the monster! Garren's feet were alight with flame as the two visions of him came down at once, letting him have it with a double jump kick as his two forms became one again after the blow, which made the scorpion shriek and tumble as it landed back on the ground, and exploded!

Doras was about to go in himself after this, as Logia caught his shoulder. "No…let's not be too hasty…this plan failed, so we'll simply devise another one…" Doras nodded and turned back into a sphere, as Logia became a ball of light, and both flew off together.

Agito, Gillis, Chalice, and Faiz, all stood and watched, as Garren, not saying a word, got back onto his bike and drove off before anyone could ask anything.

"I wish we knew who these guys were." Chalice said, breaking the silence.

"Don't worry." Agito responded. "I have a feeling we will at some point, once we've earned some more of their trust."

Back in the valley, a light shone briefly on the mountains, as the Flyer who had come in to tell Takumi and the others about the supposed ship changed back into her true form.

Lucia now stood over the mountains, unseen as she readied her weapons at her side.

"Yes…it's about time now." She said as she looked down at the now defenseless creatures of the valley, their protectors now far off in the swamplands. "Those troublesome creatures are about to find out exactly what happens when you cross the Impactors…"

She laughed a little as she slowly descended from the mountains with her crescent-like sword at the ready…


	10. Heir Apparent

Kusaka sat on a hilltop, far beyond the reaches of the valley, and away from those troublesome sharpteeth, as he fixed up a few scratches and dents on the Kaixa gear, which had been slightly damaged in his last fight with Faiz, and the mysterious warrior who appeared from out of nowhere.

He was not deterred by this setback one bit. "Once I've fixed this thing completely, I'm gonna go back, and I'll really raise some hell this time…" he growled under his breath as he adjusted a loose screw. "Those animals think they can keep repelling me just because fortune's been kind to them? They're wrong…"

He smiled just a little as he made the final adjustments to the Kaixa gear, adding little bits of extra energy with tiny amounts of battery power transferred from his bike.

He then heard a subtle noise. He quickly turned and looked around, as the sound was definitely that of footsteps, the steeps of feet in large boots.

Kusaka then finally turned to see the same warrior he had fought before, Leangle, standing a few feet away from him.

Instead of acting shocked, Kusaka simply let out a "Hm.." as he slowly got up and slapped the belt around his waist, his blaygun holstered on the side of it.

"And what, might I ask, brings you here?" He addressed the large armored figure in green and black.

Leangle responded in the voice of a bold young male. "You and I have a fight we never finished, and there's nothing I hate more than never finishing what I start."

Kusaka shook his head slowly as he walked down with the belt attached to him. "You sound like another cocky young warrior, not completely knowing what he's getting himself into." He then casually picked up the Kaixa driver and rolled it in his hands a bit. "You know, I've already killed someone on this planet, and I would hate to have to do it to someone else…unless of course you're just another animal, then I'd have no regrets about the matter whatsoever…"

Leangle breathed a bit heavily as he looked Straight at Kusaka. "Why?...why do you keep calling us animals?"

Kusaka gave him a serious look, realizing that Leangle was one of them under that suit. "Because that's what you are…you are wild, you are filthy, you are unable to comprehend what really goes on beyond your little world…you just exist, eating and procreating without a care in the world…you are animals, and it's about time you stop getting in the way of Paxerian affairs…"

He then entered the code on the Kaixa driver, 913, and pressed enter as a "STANDING BY" was heard in the same dark distorted voice, holding up the phone and saying "Henshin" calmly as he placed the driver into his belt. "COMPLETE"

The photon streams shot out as Leangle watched, the figure of Kaixa now standing in place of Kusaka.

Kaixa simply stood and motioned for Leangle to come. "Come on now, let's get this going quickly…I've got rations to heat up."

Leangle then pulled out his staff and extracted the tri-blade at the end of it, yelling out in rage as he ran towards the cocky warrior, who was ready for him this time. Just as Leangle was about to strike, Kaxia took out his blyagun and extracted the sword part, instantly slashing it at Leangle and slamming it into his armor!

Leangle grunted and fell back as Kaixa rolled his neck and shoulders a bit, before charging in and letting him have it with a series of quick slashes. Leangle blocked and defended each one as best he could, but it was clear he was no match now for the rested and prepared Kaixa, Who kicked him and sent him to his knees as he cocked the gun and fired with a spray of bullets.

Leangle rolled out of the way and brought up the other end of the staff, smashing Kaixa in the helmet before he could turn to fire more bullets! Kaxia grunted and lost the aim of his gun as Leangle dropped the staff and now used his powerful fists, smashing Kaixa in the chest numerous times as he also dropped his blaygun and caught Leangle's hands just as he was about to deliver more punches.

The two stood there, struggling against each other, trying to gain the upper hand before Kaixa finally saw an opening, and kneed Leangle right in the groin! Leangle yelled out in pain from the cheap shot, falling onto his side and curling up a bit as he grunted and breathed heavily in agony.

Kaixa caught his breath before picking up his blaygun and cocking it, aiming it at Leangle as he spoke, "A word of advice, animal…never fight if you're not willing to fight dirty."

He was just about to pull the trigger when something hot and painful hit him in the back! He yelled and jumped off to the side as he saw the figure of Garren standing behind him, holding up his smoking gun after having just fired a few bullets into his back.

"That's very good advice…" Garren stated, in a male voice, its tone somewhat lighter than Leangle's.

Kaixa looked over at Garren and hm'd softly. "Another one, eh?...just like vermin, you guys keep popping up…"

Kaixa looked down at Leangle, who was slowly getting back to his feet. "Don't think that fortune's going to keep smiling on you, animal…I suggest you don't charge me like that again unless you want an early death."

He then caught Leangle off guard with a hard uppercut, sending him back to the ground! He smiled a bit under his helmet as he kicked Leangle in the gut, before getting another bullet shot in his back, making him grunt with pain.

"Get the hell out of here!" Garren shouted, readying his gun for another shot.

Kaixa nodded slowly to Garren. "Very well…until next time, animals…" he then slowly walked off, taking his bike with him and leaving the scene.

Garren then ran over to Leangle, helping him up and calling out his real name, the identity under the suit.

"Rock!...You ok, buddy?"

Leangle then got on all fours as his suit making it vanish to reveal an adolescent three-horn underneath, who slowly nodded his head, not making his pain from the battle too big of a deal.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm just fine, Slick." Rock said, addressing Garren by his true name as well, as he shifted back into his true identity, that of an adolescent male duckbill.

Slick walked over to Rock and shook his head. "I told you, you had the element of surprise last time, and that's why you beat him then. If you keep trying to take this guy on yourself, you're gonna get killed. If you'd just let the others help you…"

Rock quickly interjected. "Slick, you know why we can't do that. The more the other warriors know us, the more the enemy's gonna know us. Right now they're more focused on defeating the others in the valley, and as long as we're outside of it, they can't locate us, since you shot off those homing device things on us."

Slick nodded slowly. "Yeah I remember, that grasshopper told us all about them when our powers awakened while we were just outside that valley…speaking of which, why did you have to smash him up like that?"

Rock sighed at this subject being brought up again. "Look, something like that grasshopper wasn't going to lie or keep secrets from the others. The most important thing to us right now is our cover, and we can't have anything or anyone trying to blow it. We need to maintain the element of surprise to help the others. It worked the first time with this Kaixa guy, and it also worked with you and those other bad guys, right?"

Slick nodded slowly "Yeah, it worked…but how long is this going to keep working, Rock? Huh? Answer me that…"

Rock looked out in the direction of the Valley. "As long as we can possibly keep it up…"

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Littlefoot in his Agito suit was prepping his bike to leave the area where the last battle took place, as Takumi walked up next to him in his Faiz suit, getting his own bike ready.

"You fought well out there." Faiz said to Agito.

"Thanks" Agito responded, smiling under his hemlet.

"That was amazing." Faiz mused. "I've seen you with the sword, and I've seen you with the staff, but I've never seen you use both at once. Your abilities seem to be evolving nicely."

Agito nodded as he stood next to his bike, back in his original gold form. "Yeah…it's like I have new instincts going into my brain all the time. How much further do you think I'll progress?"

Faiz chuckled a bit. "I'm not the professor Littlefoot, so I really can't tell you. You could progress further than anyone has even imagined. You could very well end up becoming the most powerful being on the earth."

Agito looked off into space for a moment. "Wow…that's kind of scary when you think about it. Having power has a lot of pressure you know…"

"Yeah, I know all about that pressure." Faiz said as he walked around Agito's bike. "It's enough to tear a lesser person apart…but I've gotta tell you, after what I've heard about you from some of your friends, you're definitely not a "lesser" person by any means."

Agito simply looked at Faiz and nodded. "Thanks Takumi…"

Faiz chuckled a bit. "Please…call me Tak."

As this was going on, Shorty approached Ali in her Chalice suit, still in his Gillis suit as he gently patted her on the shoulder happily.

"Hey…way to follow your instincts there, Ali." He told her, referring to her efforts to save him earlier with a well-placed arrow that could have hit him if she wasn't careful enough.

"Thanks" Ali responded. "I just did what you told me. I just shut off that part of my brain that told me to hold back. I'm just glad I got the arrow off well enough."

"Well you did, Ali, and my being here alive right now is proof of that, so good job." Gillis smiled.

Ali smiled too, and stole a quick hug from Shorty as he grunted a bit and looked on in confusion before she finally broke it off.

"What was that for?" Shorty asked, looking a little dumbfounded.

Ali just giggled a little bit as she looked at Shorty. "You know, you're a much sweeter guy than you let on Shorty, and I'm glad I got to see that part of you. You should learn to drop that tough-guy façade of yours a little more often."

Shorty just looked at her as she smiled and got on her bike, revving it up.

"Façade?...what's she talking about?..." He shook his head and chuckled at this notion, but Ali knew what she was talking about. He just wasn't admitting that she was right, as the entire group finally took off, heading back for the valley, hoping everything was still ok.

Back in the valley, Cera was standing around inside of Takumi's ship, waiting for Ducky as she could hear her going through all of Takumi's things.

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this…" Ducky sighed, going through the objects in the corner as she tried to appease her friend's curiosity.

"C'mon, just let me look at the thing for a minute, and then you can put it back without him ever knowing you got it out." Cera said, still waiting.

Ducky very carefully lugged out the case with the Delta Symbol. "I hope you can appreciate the fact that we're disturbing the memory of a dead person here." She then opened the case and took out the heavy, but lift able belt that the Delta driver went into.

"Here…now are you satisfied?"

Cera looked over the belt wide-eyed. "Very…" she smiled and looked over at some of the other things in the case. "Hey, what else is in there?..."

Ducky looked over the gun and other devices that belonged to the wearer of the Delta gear. "Whatever it is, it looks like dangerous stuff…we should probably put it all back."

Cera nodded slowly as Ducky began to put the belt back in the case, still holding onto the driver, before they suddenly heard a scream in the distance!

"What was that?" Cera asked as she and Ducky both ran out of the ship to see where the source of the screams was.

They immediately saw a female Duckbill running for cover, protecting her children as the figure of Lucia came walking towards them. In the distance, they also saw other dinosaurs lying on the ground, badly injured from getting in her way as she wielded her crescent-shaped sword.

Ducky gasped as she immediately recognized the Duckbill. "Mom!"

Her mother looked to her and responded, terrified. "Ducky! We're under attack here. Where are your warrior friends?"

Ducky shrugged and looked on, too scared to think of anything as Lucia looked over and saw that the young duckbill was holding the Delta driver in her hand.

"My goodness, what a coincidence…" She mused as she walked over to Ducky's area. "I happen to attack the mother of the one who has access to the Delta Gear." She then narrowed her gaze at Ducky. "Now, as long as I know it's here, why don't you be a good girl and hand it over to me?"

Ducky scoffed a bit as she clutched the driver in both of her hands. "And why would I want to do that?..."

Lucia looked over at her Mother and her sisters in the distance, gazing on in fear. "Because I have most of your family at my feet here, begging for mercy, and unless you comply, I'm going to start executing them one at a time…It's only fair since we lost Radia on this planet, and he was worth dozens of your pathetic lives…"

Ducky stood there with her eyes wide open as she heard this, unsure of what to do now as she suddenly heard Cera call out. "Ducky!...Catch!"

Cera now had the belt around her horn, tossing it off towards Ducky as she caught it.

"Ah good…" Lucia said, "It looks you creatures aren't completely unreasonable after all…" She reached out with her hand to take the belt and the driver, expecting Ducky to give it to her.

"You know what you have to do…" Cera said softly, under her breath so Lucia couldn't hear.

Ducky thought this whole thing over…she could have just run off and called Takumi, hoping for the best, but her family's life was at stake, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to take that kind of a risk and leave it to someone else…

She then shook her head slowly. "Sorry Takumi…I've got no other choice…"

Lucia then gasped as she saw Ducky slap the belt around her waist! "What do you think you're doing?"

Ducky flipped open the number pad and remembered the code: 333, as she looked over at Lucia. "You want this thing?...then come over here and take it!"

She then pressed the enter key as the familiar "STANDING BY…" was heard, along with a pulsing noise. She remembered what Takumi told her, holding the microphone up and saying "Henshin!" before sliding it into the side of her belt, causing the white photon streams to shoot out and wrap around her, changing her body shape painlessly as she was covered in armor quickly.

Cera and the others watched in amazement as the form of Delta now stood in place of Ducky, who now inhabited the suit. She looked at her hands, and felt along her form as Lucia sighed and shook her head at the young Duckbill.

"So you want to make this hard on yourself, eh?...very well…"

She then produced a cone-shaped container and spoke into it. "Go…Giga fighters." She threw the container into the air, as it burst into many bright lights, each of them landing on the ground and producing a robotic foot soldier with a single red eye in the center of the head, chittering electronically as they ran around Lucia.

"Keep an eye on the others…" Lucia told them. "Make sure none of them escape from me…"

The giga fighters obeyed her command, surrounding the other dinosaurs in the area as Lucia slowly walked towards Ducky, who was unsure of how to use this suit, getting into a shaky fighting stance before Lucia quickly dashed over and slashed her across the chest plate with her sword!

Ducky yelled in pain from the blow as her mother cried out. "Ducky, what do you think you're doing? Get out of there!"

Lucia threw the reluctant new Delta around like a rag doll, taking her out with a series of kicks and punches, along with some slashes from her sword that Ducky dodged as best she could. As this was going on, Cera noticed that her Father was in the area too, confronting the quick little Giga fighters as he tried to drive them away.

"Dad!" she yelled, running of to try and help him, as Ducky flailed at Lucia with her arms, trying to punch her, but not quite knowing how, as Lucia easily grabbed her arm, and judo flipped her over her head, pinning her to the ground with her foot!

"Are you through playing with me?" She asked Ducky, as she struggled under the weight of her strong foot, her Mother and sisters watching in terror as Lucia readied her sword.

As this was going on, Cera ran to where her father was, calling out his name as she tried to charge one of the Giga fighters, only to be met with a sharp kick in the head! She was thrown three feet by the blow as her father looked on and yelled.

"Cera! Don't do anything rash! I can handle these guys!" He then saw them turning their attentions to Cera as Doras suddenly appeared in front of her, growling loudly.

"You stay away from her!" he yelled as a group of Giga fighters ran over and grabbed a hold of his legs and horns, using their own tremendous strength to restrain him as Doras walked over to Cera, looking at her as she backed away slowly.

"What in the world do you want with me?" she asked, as Doras extracted his shoulder laser, and fired! Cera quickly dodged the blast with a speed she never knew she had before, looking herself over. "What the?.."

She dodged a few more blasts before two Giga fighters grabbed her and restrained her as well.

As this was occurring, Ducky reached to the number pad on the Delta driver, entering random code numbers in the hopes of finding something as Lucia held her down, hearing an "ERROR…" from the driver every time she pressed the enter key.

"This really is pointless…" Lucia told her. "But if you insist on dying in this fashion, so be it."

She brought up her sword, ready to finish her off with it, before Ducky finally found a code that worked, simply pressing: 111, then enter. Just as Lucia was bringing down the sword, the voice called out "A.I MODE" and Ducky's arms suddenly shot up to catch Lucia's, stopping her!

Lucia gasped, then grunted in surprise, as Ducky followed a whole new set of impulses being shot to her brain through the driver, brining up her leg and kicking Lucia off of her! Lucia cried out from the force of the kick, falling away from Ducky as she quickly got onto her feet and withdrew the pistol from her belt, firing it at Lucia as she deflected the blasts with her sword. She then charged towards Ducky, ready to strike again before Ducky caught her arm, and backhanded her across the helmet, tossing her aside!

"How is this possible?" Lucia asked herself as she got back on her feet, as Ducky's family watched on in utter shock at their daughter's sudden improvement.

Meanwhile, Cera's father could only struggle and watch as his daughter was being held down by the two Giga fighters. Cera struggled and struggled, wondering why this strange creature was only targeting her now. She had seen this before with Littlefoot, and that was because…

"Wait a minute…" a flash came over her as she suddenly realized something and smiled widely…

Doras was about to finish her off with a well-placed laser, before Cera suddenly threw off the two giga fighters with great strength, avoiding the blast!

"Cera!" Her father yelled, in awe of the great display of strength as she turned to the fighters and Doras with a smile, a strap suddenly wrapping around her waist and attaching to a belt buckle that simply appeared in the middle of her body, with a spade symbol in the center.

"Sorry ugly…" she said to Doras. "Looks like you're a little too late…again!" She turned her front foot a bit and said "Henshin!" as her father looked on in absolute amazement.

She transformed almost instantly, gaining a humanoid form inside of the suit, which was silver with blue mesh all round, her helmet crowned with a single sharp horn on the top from the forehead, as two big red eyes protruded from the helmet, glowing as a sword was holstered at her side, her chest plate displaying the same spade symbol at the bottom.

"Blade…" Doras growled, sounding out the name of the last hidden suit.

"Correct…" Cera responded, finally awakening to her true power as her father watched on, simply speechless as she took out her sword and slashed it at the giga-fighters that had restrained her before, slicing open the chest of one before spinning and decapitating the other with great speed, sparks flying as Doras simply watched.

Ducky was too busy fighting Lucia in the Delta suit to realize what had happened to Cera, blocking and ducking the kicks and slashes from her opponent before catching one of her legs and throwing her off to the side. As Lucia grunted and got back up, Ducky took off , running towards her and jumping onto her shoulder with one leg, using the other to kick her right in the back of the head, springing off the impactor in the process!

Lucia cried out in pain as Ducky/Delta somersaulted and landed right on her feet, before looking over and seeing the giga fighters ganging up on her family. She gasped and took advantage of Lucia's momentary fatigue, running to the case with the Delta gear, and taking out a few more weapons, including a rather impressive looking rifle.

Doras looked on as some more Giga fighters ganged up on Cera/Blade, sizing her up as she suddenly reached into a pocket on her belt and whipped out a sharp dagger, throwing it at a giga fighter, and making it go right into the robot's single red eye, as it fell, sputtering. The others charged her as she fell to the ground spinning, slicing through three of them with her sword, and kicking a fourth one as she got back onto her feet.

Blade charged up energy in her sword hand as another fighter charged her, only to be met with a powerful bolt of electricity that she shot from her sword, taking the robot out of commission immediately.

There were still three more fighters left though, as they all teamed up on her with three simultaneous jump kicks, knocking her back as she grunted and got back up, growling a bit at the fighters.

"Ok…playtime's over!" she shouted, before charging up the same energy from before in her feet this time as she raised her sword and jammed it into the ground. She then made sure all three fighters were together as she took off, leaping over her sword, somersaulting, and yelling out in rage as she extended her foot, glowing with the blue energy as it smacked into the chest of one giga fighter, energy bolts shooting out from the point of impact and crashing into the other two as Cera jumped back from the kick and landed on her feet, watching all of the robots fall and explode from the surge of energy.

Lucia made another effort to take down Delta, shooting her own bolts of energy from her fingers as Delta simply doged them and shot at her with her rifle, seeing an opening as the laser smacked her right in the chest! Lucia screamed as she fell back from the force, allowing Delta to run towards her family and shout out in anger, firing another laser, careful not to hit her family as it smashed into the head of one giga fighter, making it's head explode!

The other robots took notice, and all ran over to Delta, as she aimed and readied herself to shoot, but still not wanting to hit her family by accident. So she decided on another tactic.

She reached into her belt, and pulled out a square-shaped device, which fit perfectly over her right hand on the suit. She then pulled a power source from the Delta driver, and slipped it into a slot on the center of the device, promptly kicking away one giga fighter as the voice said "READY" on her driver.

A giga fighter tried to catch her with a roundhouse kick as she dropped down and sent it onto its back with a well placed sweep, while another tried to kick at her from above while she was still down, before she suddenly sprung off her hand and kicked it right in the helmet, keeping them all at bay as she got back up.

She then pressed the enter key on the driver as the familiar "EXCEED CHARGE" was heard, a flash of energy traveling to the device on her right hand. She then ran towards one of the giga fighters in the group, as the device beeped slowly, before gradually beeping faster and faster as she got closer to her enemy.

She then ducked and delivered a hard punch to the robot as a flash suddenly came over both of them, time almost seeming to slow down at the point of impact as the triangular Delta symbol appeared in the back of the giga fighter. It was at this point that things suddenly sped back up, the punch SMASHING hard into the chest of the giga fighter as it broke apart and smashed into all the other giga fighters, causing a huge chain reaction as they all tumbled and rolled across the valley before finally exploding into a massive fireball!

Doras helped Lucia back to her feet as this was happening, growling a bit as she looked on at all the destroyed giga fighters. "Well…it seems we've underestimated our enemies once again…let's see if Logia or your creator has any more bright ideas…" Doras just growled as they both left the scene to regroup back on the ship.

Delta finally saw Blade as the two looked at each other for a moment, while all the curious dinosaurs around them went in for a closer look.

Cera was absolutely ecstatic about what they had accomplished "Hey, Ducky! We did it, hahaha! Girl power!" she laughed

Delta tilted her head. "Cera?...is that really you?...you've got one of those suits now?"

Blade nodded quickly as she walked down to meet with her friend. "Nothing gets by you, huh?"

"Nope, nope, nope." Ducky shook her head as she laughed, their hands meeting in a sort of high fiver gesture as Agito, Faiz, Gillis, and Chalice all drove in on their bikes, all of them very surprised at what they saw.

"What in the world is going on here?" Takumi asked, very shocked to see someone else using the Delta Gear as Ducky took out the driver and pressed the cancel button, changing back in front of him.

"I'm sorry Takumi." She said "But things got too dangerous for me to just stand back and watch.

"Ducky!" Agito called out as he shifted back into Littlefoot, getting off his bike and walking towards her, before staring at Blade. "Wait a minute…who's this?"

"What's wrong Littlefoot? Don't recognize your own friends anymore?" Cera chuckled as she shifted back to her true self in front of him.

Ali immediately shifted back from her Chalice suit as she walked towards the group. "Cera?...you're one of us too?"

Cera Nodded as Shorty quickly ditched his Gillis suit, walking over curiously as Takumi shifted back to his true form as well, looking out over the remains of the busted giga fighters.

"Ok…just what happened here while we were away?"

Cera just smiled as she sat. "I thought you'd never ask…gather round, and I'll tell you all about it."

The others quickly complied as they gathered to hear what the new heroes had just accomplished.

Back on the enemy ship, Logia walked in to see some interesting activity going on in the main control room for the Neo-Organism. Most of the computers seemed to be analyzing something, as the physical manifestation of the super-computer emerged from the green screen, looking at him.

"Is there something you needed?" the being asked, as Logia looked at the object that was being scanned.

"What exactly is this, just out of curiosity?"

The Neo-organism smiled a bit. "This is a rather interesting piece of one of the dead creatures from this planet. Doras brought it to me earlier on my request."

Logia looked over the object, which he know realized was a bone. "And just what is so interesting about this particular bone?...what relevance does this have to what we're after?..."

"You will know in due time…" The Neo Organism responded. "Now of you could please leave me to my studies…"

Logia nodded and slowly walked away "Very well…but let's hope you don't intend to simply study forever…"

The Neo-Organism ignored the comment as he sunk back into the screen, scanning the DNA structure of the bones as some readings came up on a screen nearby:

SPECIMEN AGE: Not yet determined.

SPECIES: Earth creature. Saurapod.

GENDER: Female.


	11. Courage to the end

Daytime was slowly fading as Ducky and Cera had taken time to explain what had just recently occurred with Lucia and the giga-fighters. The two of them were now on the ship with Takumi, who was retrieving what information he could from the smashed remains of the grasshopper on the computer's main console, getting more information about Cera's suit now that it was fully functional.

"That was a very bold thing you did, Ducky." Takumi said in a more happy than scolding tone of voice. "Putting on equipment you've never used before, and going one-on-one with a dangerous impactor warrior. It's a miracle she didn't leave you on the ground in pieces."

"I know" Ducky responded, looking down at the floor.

Takumi looked at the screen as he talked some more. "It's a good thing you found my little addition when you did."

Ducky quickly looked up. "Addition?"

Takumi nodded as Cera looked on, "Yeah, a little mechanism that was meant to help any new recruits using the Delta Gear. See, the computer analyzed most of Mihara's past battles, his instincts and fighting style, and copied all the information to a little data disk that I put into the Delta Driver."

He then opened a compartment on the driver that revealed a mini-disc underneath, showing it to her before shutting it again. "That's the key to the new A.I mode. In a sense, the Delta Driver now has Mihara's spirit inside, and that's what you tapped into to defeat Lucia."

"Interesting" Cera responded as Ducky looked on in awe at the Delta Driver, pondering the fact that there was a "spirit" inside of it now. "What about my suit? Got any information on that yet?"

"Hold on, I'm just about done.." Takumi said as he made a few adjustments, ready to receive whatever he could get from the grasshopper as he looked into the screen.

"Here we go…Yes, your suit Cera, Code name: Blade. This model is particularly interesting in that it not only increases the wearer's proficiency with swords and other stabbing weapons, but it can also absorb heat energy in the atmosphere though a special device on the belt, and charge it up. This powerful charged energy can be transferred to any part of the body at sheer will of the user."

Cera looked on at the displays on the screen. "Neat…so that's why those bolts came out of my foot when I kicked that one guy?"

"Correct" Takumi responded. "You instinctively sent the energy you charged in the belt down to your extended foot, and when it made impact with that giga-fighter, the energy just exploded out of it."

"Wow" Cera mused as she sat with Ducky. "This'll teach those creeps to come harass us in the valley again.."

Takumi turned to her as she said this. "Now don't get too cocky. You may have beaten the impactors handily today, but these people are not the type who will simply give up and run home so easily."

He looked at her and Ducky. "And I mean that for both of you. These guys are not like the "sharpteeth" you run away from so often. They're not interested in you for mere food, they want you dead, period. And once an impactor wants you dead, they don't stop attacking you until you are. So don't take these guys lightly. Understood?"

The two just nodded softly and nervously, as Takumi turned to the screen with a weary look on his face. "Good…I'd hate to lose another friend while I'm down here." He turned and looked at Miahra's body in the cryo-tube nearby as Ducky and Cera left him alone.

Meanwhile, Bron slowly approached Littlefoot and Shorty as they sat near the edge of the lake in the Valley.

"Hey, you two. How are you holding up?" he asked, slowly walking over from behind.

Littlefoot smiled and looked up to his father. "Just fine Dad, considering." Shorty nodded to echo his sentiment.

"Really now." He chuckled a bit as he mused. "You guys have been through so much weird stuff recently. My head would be spinning in confusion right now."

Shorty chuckled a bit and nodded. "Yeah, it certainly has been weird…but in a strange way we've gotten used to it pretty quickly."

Littlefoot smiled in agreement with his surrogate brother, "Especially when you consider that we're doing all this for a good cause."

"You've got a really good point there, Littlefoot." Bron smiled as he sat down gently near his two boys, chuckling. "You know, I knew both of you had potential to be great fighters and leaders, but I never thought it was going to happen to you in this fashion."

Shorty laughed a bit. "Well, who could blame you for being surprised? I mean, how often do you find out that there's life up there in the sky, and you've just inherited some stuff they created up there by chance?"

Bron laughed a little more. "Very true. And for what it's worth, I'm proud of you guys, and so are your grandparents. As far as we're concerned, you two have become heroes in a way that none of would have ever imagined."

Littlefoot pondered something for a moment and looked at his Father. "Do you think mom would have been proud too?"

Bron nodded and smiled. "Well, she would have been taken aback a bit at first, but yes, I think she would be." He looked to the other young longneck "You too Shorty. If she was around right now, she would have adopted you in a second, believe me."

Shorty smiled widely. "Thanks. That's always a nice thing to know."

Bron smiled and got up. "Now, c'mon you two, there's a big berry bush with your names on it nearby."

"All right!" Shorty exclaimed as he got up and walked off.

"Lead the way, Dad." Littlefoot grinned as he followed suit.

Time passed, and daylight had come again to the Valley. Ali was by herself in another corner of the Valley, in her Chalice suit as she was preparing her bike for a long journey. For too long now the images of Doras attacking her herd were playing in her head over and over again. She'd had enough of waiting now.

Just as she was about to mount her bike and drive off, she heard a familiar voice call out "Hey!"

Ali turned to see Cera looking right at her.

"And just where do you think you're headed?" She asked.

Ali looked forward again and sighed. "This has nothing to do with you Cera…"

Cera scoffed as she looked on at Ali. "In case you didn't notice, I have one of these suits inside of my body now, and my fighting abilities are now on the same level as yours so I can fight against these bad guys with you. I'd say this has EVERYTHING to do with me."

Ali just looked at Cera as she quickly changed into her Blade suit and pressed a button on her glove to call for her bike, which materialized and drove towards her. "But you could just stay here and help everyone else you know. Why do you want to help me hunt Doras?"

Cera giggles "Geez, it has been a long time hasn't it…don't you remember when we were younger, and you saved me while we were in the land of mists? Well, consider this as my payback for you. You helped me out of a bad situation, so I'm gonna help you kill this Doras monster in return."

Ali stared at her. "You really want to do this to repay that old thing?"

Cera nodded under her Blade helmet. "Well, yeah. I've been such a jerk most of my life, and in those kinds of situations, most other dinosaurs would be reluctant to help out someone like me…but not you and Littlefoot. No, you two have managed to do the one thing that I never thought was possible. You care about me. So I wanna try to care about you in return. That's why I wanna go and help you out, now that I have the power to."

Ali smiled under her helmet. "It's always so nice to see this side of you, Cera."

Cera giggled a bit. "Well don't get TOO mushy about it, I still have a reputation to keep up."

Ali giggled and nodded with her as the two warriors drove off on their bikes, leaving the valley behind for now.

As they left, they didn't recognize the forms of Rock and Slick in their suits, hidden behind some trees on their bikes.

"Now where are those two going?" Rock asked, under his Leangle suit.

Slick looked on under the helmet of Garren. "Headed straight for the Mysterious beyond, it looks like."

Leangle looked on for a moment, then back at Garren as he revved up his bike suddenly. "Hey, wait a minute. You're not actually gonna follow them, are you?"

Garren revved his bike some more and nodded. "Yeah, well somebody has to keep an eye on them. If they get hurt out there, they'll be too far from home to get help."

"But, what about the bad guys?" Leangle asked. "We can't leave the valley unprotected."

Garren looked back at him as he readied himself to leave. "Rock, I'm not forcing you to come along with me. If you're so intent on looking after the valley, then by all means, look after it. I'll be back as soon as I can."

With that Garren took off on his bike, riding into the mysterious beyond, keeping a good distance from Chalice and Blade.

Leangle just shook his head. "Your enduring compassion for others is going to get us both into trouble." He sighed as he rested on the handlebars of his bike, keeping a watch on the outskirts of the Valley.

As everyone else in the valley was adjusting back into their normal lives, the two Impactors aboard the ship of the Neo-organism were having a less than jovial time. Lucia paced around in one corner of the ship as Logia stood against a wall with his arms crossed.

"What is that thing doing in there anyway?" Lucia asked him. "All day long I've heard those computers going off, cramming a bunch of information. It's up to something, I know it."

"Well, indeed it is" Logia answered. "But no matter how many times I look in on the thing, it won't tell me a word of what it's been doing. It's only sharing information with that Doras creature it created now."

Lucia shook her head slowly in frustration. "I'm starting to wonder now if it was even wise to ally ourselves with this machine in the first place. First we lose Radia, then we are beaten repeatedly by the enemy with only this computer's half-hearted attempts to assist us."

Logia nodded slowly before the neo-organism's voice boomed over an intercom nearby, having been listening to this.

"If you have a problem with the way I work, then you're certainly free to leave whenever you wish…just don't expect either I or Doras to go easy on you when you try to retrieve the suits on your own."

Lucia sighed angrily as Logia looked towards the intercom, thinking of a retort before it talked again.

"You have a visitor."

Logia looked on surprised. "Really? Who?"

"It's simpler if you just come to the front entrance."

Logia nodded slowly as he and the reluctant Lucia walked around the ship to the front entrance, just as the Neo-Organism had instructed. They were both surprised at the familiar sight in their presence.

"It can't be." Lucia exclaimed.

"General?" Logia asked.

The figure nodded as it was indeed the form of Logia's ally, the great Impactor warrior, General Balcus! His black visor glistened slightly through his azure helmet, his entire body a bulky yet agile mass of azure and black armor. He carried a wide shield on his back, and a powerful broadsword, sheathed at his side.

"Yes my old friend. It is I." General Balcus answered, standing very still.

Lucia looked at him curiously. "How did you find out that we were here?"

Balcus turned to her and responded. "I have been keeping an eye on you; just as you have been spying on others with your own ship, so have I with yours. When time had passed and you still had not returned home, the supreme council sent me to check up on your progress, or lack thereof."

Logia walked around his friend as he answered to this. "Look, I know this hasn't been going as smoothly as planned, but I swear to you, we will eventually get the suits back from these troublesome earth creatures."

"The Supreme council does not share your bright outlook." Balcus retorted. "That is why I am now here to make sure that everything on this lowly planet proceeds according to plan from here on."

He was soon interrupted by the voice of the Neo Organism, who manifested his physical form on one of the screens nearby.

"Your plans do not concern me." The computerized creature stated boldly. "If we are to terminate these creatures and retrieve what is inside of them, then we shall do it on my terms and no one else's. That is the only way we will be able to succeed."

Balcus looked at the other two impactors. "And you're just going to stand here and let this computer talk to you in such an insolent tone?..." he shook his head. "You've become even weaker than I thought."

Logia just stared at Balcus as he faced down the Neo-Organism. "Now you listen to me you overgrown chunk of scrap metal. I know you're a super computer and all, but even your kind should learn to be obedient, so when I say we attack according to my plans, that means that you are to obey those plans, computer, not question them. Do I make myself clear?"

"I would not talk that way if I were you…" The Neo-organism flatly responded.

Balcus scoffed. "Oh? And what are you going to do about it?...people like us built you, and we can destroy you, just as easily." He reached over and threatened to pull out a wire on the wall as Logia just shook his head slowly.

The Neo Organism frowned as a door suddenly opened, and Doras now stood right in front of the General. Balcus jumped for a moment before withdrawing his broadsword, swinging it. Doras growled and simply caught the blade in his powerful right hand, holding it right there as he snarled and fired his shoulder cannon, smacking into Balcus' chest plate as he grunted and fell against the wall.

"Enough of this!" Logia shouted as he helped Balcus onto his feet and looked at the Neo-Organism. "I'm very sorry for this. The General just didn't know what he was dealing with is all. And now he does, so I'm sure he'll be co-operative from here on."

The Neo-organism faded from the screen slowly. "I should hope so…"

Doras growled and walked off as Logia looked at Balcus. "You'd better not try that again. He went easy on you this time." He walked off with Logia as Balcus looked back at the screen and pondered.

"My lord, what kind of a world do we live in now." He muttered to himself, walking off by himself as he wondered what he was going to do next.

Back in the Valley, Takumi slept on one of the bunks in the ship, resting and recovering from all that had been going on, as the others left him alone there, unaware of the figure of a Paxerian approaching the ship on his bike.

Kusaka stepped off the vehicle with the Kaixa gear already around his waist, his driver at the ready as he walked to the ship.

"I know you think what you're doing is the right thing, Takumi" he thought to himself. "But you're not going to convince me that it is."

He opened the door to the ship and looked on at his former ally, now asleep as he looked on and saw the Faiz gear laying on a table in its case. He walked towards the case quietly and picked it up, still thinking to himself.

"Thievery is such a despicable thing for a Paxerian to do, but you've given me no choice in the matter. You continue to block my way and prevent me from doing what you know deep down must be done. I can't allow you to continue that."

He looked back at Takumi one last time as he walked out of the door once more. "So long old friend…I know we've had our differences over the past few days, but once you see what I've been able to do with the power of both Faiz and Kaixa, I'm sure you'll learn to forgive me, eventually."

He walked out of the ship slowly, as to not disturb Takumi while he slept, looking down at the case while the door closed. It was then that he suddenly heard the sound of a motor.

Leangle, who had been watching him from a distance ever since he came in, swooped down on his bike from out of nowhere, nearly running into Kusaka as he jumped out of the way, dropping the case with the Faiz gear in the confusion!

Leangle then turned on his bike and stopped, looking dead ahead at Kusaka.

The angry Paxerian rose back to his feet and snarled at the warrior. "You animals seem to have a hard time learning lessons. I beat you, and you keep coming back for more." He shook his head slowly. "I'll give this much to you creatures, you certainly seem to be the types who never back away from an enemy, even as you face certain death from that adversary."

Leangle stared at Kusaka with a look of determination that could almost be seen under his helmet. "Are you gonna talk, or fight?"

Kusaka chuckled and walked back over to his bike, taking the case with the Faiz gear with him as he placed it into a compartment on his bike. "Very well, since you seem determined to die today, I'll gladly grant your request."

He flipped open the Kaixa driver and entered 913, pressing enter and hearing the "STANDING BY…" as he held it to his mouth and spoke, "Henshin" sliding the driver into the middle of the belt as the "COMPLETE" was heard once more, transforming into Kaixa as he sat on his bike.

Leangle just revved up his bike and got ready to charge, as Kaixa did the same with his own bike. They revved up some more, across from one another, preparing to attack.

Leangle took off first, as Kaixa drove a moment after, the two armored fighters charging towards each other for what seemed like an eternity, getting closer and closer as their engines roared on, speeding them up.

Time seemed to slow down as Leangle finally got close to Kaixa and withdrew his staff, swiping at Kaixa with an overhand swing. Kaixa ducked as the two passed, but Leangle, expecting him to duck, then used the momentum of the swing to send the staff behind him, slamming into Kaxia's back!

Kaixa yelled out in pain and surprise as the staff struck him, the force causing him to fall off his bike and roll on the ground as his vehicle sailed on before falling onto its side.

Leangle turned and got off his bike, his staff at the ready as Kaixa stumbled onto his feet and grunted.

"Well well." He spoke, trying to hide his pain. "It seems you've picked up some new tricks." He quickly took out his blaygun as Leangle approached.

"You tend to learn quite a few things when dealing with an enemy who likes to fight dirty." Leangle responded.

"You think THAT hurt?" Kaixa said as he extended the blade from his weapon. "When I'm through with you, you'll be lucky if your animal friends can even recognize you as one of their own!"

Leangle wasted no words now as he yelled and swung his staff, expanding the tri-blade at the tip as he clashed with Kaixa's blaygun.

Ducky had heard the noises as she ran over, looking over and seeing Leangle in action against Kaixa.

"It's him!" she gasped, before running into the ship and pushing the sleeping Paxerian on the bed. "Takumi! Takumi, wake up!"

Takumi moaned a bit as he was quickly roused from his sleep, sitting up on the bed. "Ducky? What's going on?"

Ducky pointed outside. "Just have a look!"

Takumi tilted his head as he heard the noises coming from the fight. Once he saw the battle taking place, he gasped and without even talking, ran over to the table where he had laid the case with the Faiz gear, only to find the table bare.

"What? Where did it go?" He asked out loud, searching the ship some more as Ducky looked outside.

She noticed something on Kaixa's bike, pointing it out to Takumi, wide-eyed. "Is that what you're looking for?"

Takumi glanced at the bike, and also went wide-eyed as he saw his case sitting in his adversary's bike. "Oh no…" he then looked around outside. "Where are all the others?"

"I'm not sure" Ducky responded. "I think Cera went someplace with Ali earlier, and Littlefoot and Shorty are all the way at the other end of the valley."

"Damn it all!" Takumi pounded a table, as he looked at Leangle struggling against his enemy. "That guy's not gonna last long against Kaixa by himself, and I have no way to help him now!"

Ducky frowned a bit before she remembered the last time, and quickly ran over to where the Delta gear was located, slapping it around her waist.

"What do you think you're doing?" Takumi asked with a surprised look.

"I'm gonna go get your belt back!" Ducky responded as she withdrew the Delta Driver, uncovering the number pad.

Takumi shook his head quickly. "Don't do it, Ducky. Kusaka's a professional warrior, and he's already killed somebody here on this planet. If you go up against him he'll tear you apart in seconds flat!"

Ducky quickly entered 333 into the Delta Driver as she looked up at Takumi. "I don't care! I'm not going to sit around see someone else suffer." She then pressed enter. "STANDING BY", before speaking "Henshin" into the microphone and sliding it into the side of her belt, causing the transformation to Delta to occur once again as she ran out, activating A.I mode once more as it guided her.

Leangle continued to swing his staff at Kaixa, missing much of the time before catching on Kaixa's blaygun again. Kaixa quickly kicked Leangle off and fired the gun section, making Leangle dive to avoid the spray of bullets as Delta ran over to Kaixa's bike and reached into the compartment.

Kaixa readied the blade on his weapon once more as Delta stood behind him lifting the case with the Faiz gear as she looked on, seeing the determined Paxerian ready to strike a fatal blow.

She couldn't stand by and watch much longer as she whipped out the blaster on her belt and fired!

Kaixa grunted as the shot hit him in the back, turning to face her as Takumi ran out and shouted. "What do you think you're doing?"

Kaixa tilted his head as Leangle got back onto his feet, staring at Delta. "I…I thought I killed you." He said, thinking it was Mihara at first.

"Don't you touch him again!" Ducky shouted under her helmet, shaking a bit as Kaixa heard the feminine voice.

"What's this?" He asked, looking to Takumi. "Oh no…don't tell me you've let these animals use the Delta Gear as well!" he laughed out loud as Delta stood there, unsure of what to do now.

Leangle thought this was a good time to attack, as he ran towards Kaxia with his staff in the air. Kaixa quickly turned and kicked Leangle in the stomach, making him fall to his knees as he grabbed him by the back of his neck.

"If you don't mind, I'm trying to clear something up!" he said, before smashing his face into his knee, knocking him out cold as he fell over.

Delta stood there, terrified at what she saw just happen as Takumi walked closer. "This has gone far enough, Kusaka! Ducky, toss me the Faiz gear!"

Kaixa growled and pulled out his blaster as Takumi ran towards Delta, delivering a shot that clipped him right in the arm! Takumi yelled out in pain before falling and hitting his head on a rock in the ground below, knocking him out cold as well!

"This is truly disappointing.." Kaixa spoke as he looked at Delta, slowly walking towards her as he sheathed his weapons. "A creature like you thinking you can handle a power like that is an absolute insult to the Paxerian race!" he extended his hand. "Give me the belt."

Delta yelled out and tried to punch Kaixa in the face, only to have her hand caught in his as he punched her right in the stomach with his other hand! She cried out and crumbled a bit as he threw off her arm. "I said, give me the belt!"

Delta shook her head as she yelled and got back up, kicking him in the side as he grunted and fell back, growling a bit in anger under his helmet as she got out the device for her hand, trying to put it on, but dropping it in her terror as Kaixa rebounded with a few well paced punches across the helmet, which she felt down to her head as she screamed out in pain, before he sent her flying onto her back with a kick in the chest!

Kaixa sighed as he withdrew his blaygun and cocked it, aiming it at Delta. "You really want me to do this the hard way, eh? Very well then…" Delta struggled to gain back the wind that was knocked out of her as Kaixa prepared to fire.

But before he could even get a shot off, something swooped in from the distance and smashed right into Kaixa, sending him flying as he yelled out in surprised pain. It was a tail!

Ducky looked up to see the form of Littlefoot's grandmother, who happened to be around as this was happening, standing above her.

"What are you doing?" Ducky asked as she looked at her and Kaixa as he stumbled to get back onto his feet.

"Sit tight dear, Littlefoot and Shorty are on their way!" she looked out to the two in the distance, riding their bikes as Bron and Grandpa followed far behind to watch. She had seen Kaixa in the distance earlier, and had gone to tell the others about it, as Leangle and Takumi still laid on the ground unconscious.

Kaixa growled in anger again as he whipped out his pistol and shot Delta in the helmet while she wasn't looking! Grandma gasped as the blast knocked her unconscious as well.

Grandma looked over and shouted to Kaixa. "Just what is your problem?"

"That belt belongs to me!" he responded as he took another device, the tube-like Kaixa pointer, and attached it to his leg as he slipped the cover from the Kaixa driver onto it, hearing a "READY.." as he got back to his feet. "If you want to remain healthy, then I'd suggest you get out of my way and let me retrieve it!"

Grandma looked back and saw the two boys as Agito and Gillis running up the hill to where she was. Their bikes hand run into some bad mud on the hill, and they were forced to disembark. Bron and Grandpa were still far behind, though moving as fast as they could.

She shook her head slowly. "You disgusting excuse for a living creature…" she uttered to him. She readied her tail once more in an act of defiance not seen since her younger days, which she had related to Shorty before. "If you want that belt, you'll have to get by me to take it!"

Just shook his head as he looked straight at her. "As you wish…"

The others were still far off as he pressed enter and the distorted voice spoke "EXCEED CHARGE…", as Grandma brought her tail around for another swipe at Kaixa, who simply jumped over her tail, high into the air as he extended both of his feet, a blast of yellow energy shooting out and latching onto grandma, taking the form of a cone in front of her, as she grunted and yelled out, unable to move as the energy drove Kaixa's form right to it.

Littlefoot saw this in his Agito suit and ran faster with Gillis, yelling "Grandma! Nooooooooo!"

But they were too late, they could only watch and see as Kaixa kept his legs extended in a double kick, shooting through the cone faster than the eye could see as he entered it, reappearing behind grandma as she cried out in pain and stumbled, falling over as the big yellow X, Kaixa's symbol, hovered over her!

"GRANDMAAAAAAAAAAA!" Littlefoot cried out in absolute agony, as Grandpa nearly died from the shock right there, running faster than he ever could, too terrified to say anything as Bron ran and shouted "MOTHER!"

Kaixa stood back for a moment, observing as Littlefoot and Shorty got their first, looking over at Grandma as they changed back to their normal forms for the moment.

"Grandma…grandma say something…" Littlefoot said, tears welling up in his eyes and Grandpa and Bron got their too.

"Littlefoot…littlefoot…" she said weakly, lifting her head a bit "And Shorty…what great young longnecks you've become…so strong…so dedicated…you've made me proud, both of you, and all your friends…"

Shorty looked on with tears welling in his own eyes as Littlefoot leaned over and nuzzled his Grandma, his own tears streaming out freely. "Grandma, please don't go…you're going to be all right…you're going to be all right…"

"I love you…I love you all…" She managed to speak very weakly. She then lowered her head and sighed out a peaceful final breath, her entire body turning to ash, which happened to anything that was killed by the Kaixa pointer…she was gone…

Grandpa sadly nuzzled his wife one last time before nuzzling the tearful Bron, who hung his head silently, as Shorty and Littlefoot leaned against each other for comfort as they cried over their loss.

Leangle, who had now turned back into Rock, Takumi, and Delta all found consciousness, as they could only stand and watch, stunned at what had just happened, as Kaixa shook his head and snapped them all back to reality.

"It didn't have to be this way…" he said. "This could have all been avoided if you had just stopped getting in my way. But what do you animals know about common sense anyway?"

He shrugged and walked off in his suit as Shorty looked back at him, his tears of sadness quickly turning into tears of rage…

Everyone watched as he suddenly transformed into Gillis, roaring out in sheer anguish and anger as he sprinted towards Kaixa and lept on top of him! He punched Kaixa repeatedly in the helmet before he was kicked off, rolling back onto his feet.

Kaixa readied his weapons once more as Gillis clenched his fists and let out an earth shattering roar, tapping into a whole new level of rage that suddenly transformed him!

Everyone watched in shock as Gillis became bulkier, with more longer claws growing on his body, as his back suddenly sprouted two tendrils to go with the ones that extended from his hands! Shorty had achieved the suits advanced form, known as "Exceed Gillis"!

Gillis growled with a lower sounding voice as he shot the tendrils out towards Kaixa, knocking him around before he quickly got onto his bike and drove off like a coward, but not before Gillis put a big slash in the side of his bike as he escaped!

Gillis then dropped to his knees and rose his fists to the sky, roaring out in sheer rage before collapsing and crying again, changing back into his normal form. "Damn you…damn you!" he managed to utter out as he cried, as Delta watched, changing Back into Ducky slowly while Takumi watched, as Rock quickly ran off before anyone noticed him fully.

Shorty then walked back next to Littlefoot, both of them so distraught as Takumi took out the Faiz driver and looked at the screen.

"What are you doing?" Ducky asked softly.

Takumi looked at the screen. "Looks like one of my gadgets are still in Kusaka's bike, and it has a homing device on it. I can track him down easily with this." He put away the driver, looking out into the distance.

"No, Takumi…" Littlefoot responded, walking up to him with a fiery new look in his eyes, still moist from his tears. "Let me take care of him…"

Stay tuned for the next chapter, because this is going to be a big one. Littlefoot VS Kusaka / Agito VS Kaixa! Don't miss it!


	12. Reborn in flames!

Cera and Ali were driving along in their bikes, still wearing their Blade and Chalice suits respectively. They were far away from the Valley now, totally unaware of the terrible loss that had occurred there earlier. They were now only focused on finding Doras and finishing him off for good.

Things were going normally until Blade suddenly stopped her bike, sensing something.

Chalice came over to her after she slowed down as well. "What is it, Cera?"

Blade looked to her left, then her right, before gazing back at Ali. "I thought I heard something…"

Chalice looked in the same spots that Blade just looked. "Where?..."

"I'm not sure where…" Blade responded. "I'm just getting that feeling…I don't know if it's the suit or what, but-"

"Cera, duck!" Ali suddenly shouted, as she suddenly saw something peeking out of the trees at her, pushing her down and firing her bow at the sighting!

Garren jumped out of the trees, avoiding the blast and putting up his hands, his gun still holstered.

"Hey, hey, hey, wait!" he yelled, trying to calm things down.

Chalice tilted her head as she recognized the figure and armor of the warrior she had seen before in the fight with the scorpion creatures. "You again?…"

"Again?" Blade asked, crossing her arms a bit. "You mean, this guy is one of the two mystery suits you've been looking out for?"

Chalice nodded in response. "Yeah. He helped us one time, then he just disappeared."

Blade eyed Garren Suspiciously. "And why did you do that? Got something you don't wanna share with us?"

Garren shook his head vigorously. "No, no, nothing of the sort. I only pulled out because Rock said I shouldn't reveal myself right now!", he blurted out, not really thinking about what he was saying.

"Rock?" Chalice looked to him, stunned. "Who or what is Rock?"

Garren gasped. He tried to cover his mouth with his hand before he remembered it was under his helmet now. "Oh no…" he muttered softly, in disbelief of his own stupidity.

Blade calmly unsheathed her sword. "You might as well tell us pal, because we're not gonna let you go in peace until you do."

"Cera…" Chalice looked to Blade sternly.

"What? You've got to be firm in these situations." Blade retorted.

Garren sighed. "Very well…Rock's not gonna like this, but he's gonna have to learn to live with it now." He walked forward and slowly shifted back, his armor vanishing as he shrunk down to his normal adolescent duckbill form.

Blade and Chalice just watched as the duckbill walked towards them, grinning sheepishly and waving. "Uh…hi…my name's Slick."

Cera and Ali changed out of their suits and watched as Slick walked to them.

Cera eyed Slick curiously. "Slick?...I've never heard that name before. And I've never seen you in the Valley either."

Slick shrugged. "Well, that's because we've only been in and out of the Valley a few times."

"We?" Ali tilted her head a bit.

Slick nodded slowly. "Rock and I. We go all over the place in this world. We've been doing it ever since we were really young.

"Doesn't your family ever worry, though?" Ali asked him.

"Well…neither one of us has a family." Slick replied. "I lost mine in a terrible earthshake, and Rock lost his to a pack of sharpteeth. We met each other by chance while wondering aimlessly through the wastelands. We depended on each other from then on, and we learned to survive together."

"Wow…" Cera thought to herself out loud. "…Two swimmers surviving for years without a family for this long. I don't know if I could even do that."

"Well…" Slick spoke up again. "…Rock is a Three-horn, actually."

Cera turned to Slick again, surprised. "You're kidding…"

Slick shook his head. "I don't kid…at least not when it's not needed."

Cera chuckled a bit. "Well, that's even more amazing."

"What do you mean?..." Ali gazed at her, puzzled. "You hang out with Ducky all the time."

Cera laughed a bit. "Yeah, but I don't live with her every day of my life. That would drive me crazy!" She smiled as Ali giggled and nodded a bit.

Slick chuckled a bit, as he decided to change the subject right there. "So, what are you two doing outside of the valley anyway? Looking for something?"

"More like somebody." Cera responded.

"Who?" Slick asked.

"Doras" Ali replied, her smile disappearing at the thought of her target.

Slick folded his arms. "Oh? And who might that be?"

Cera looked at him strangely "You mean you've never seen this guy before; the big ugly green monster who hunts down dinosaurs like us, who have these powers?"

Slick shook his head. "Nope. But then again that may be because Rock and I removed the homing devices on our suits."

"Homing devices?" Cera furrowed her brow.

Slick nodded. "Yeah, these things the professor put on our suits. They've been what the enemies been using to try and track us down. But I learned of a way to get those things off of us." He then looked to Cera and Ali. "I could even help get them off of you. That might help you in tracking down this Doras character."

"Sounds like a promising idea." Ali nodded slowly. "So how do you pull it off?"

Slick quickly changed into his Garren suit and withdrew his gun. "Just get into your suits, and hold still…"

Meanwhile, in the Valley, Littlefoot had just silently left on his bike to pursue Kusaka. He didn't say a word to anybody as he was preparing for his confrontation with the one who had killed his Grandmother. He simply transformed, and went off in the direction that Takumi had pointed him off to.

Takumi was currently on his ship, doing some more research on his computers, mainly to get the disturbing thoughts out of his head. He had known Kusaka for years, the scared orphan of the academy, and the thought this once bright and friendly young Paxerian turning into such a heartless killing machine was just too much for even his mind to bear. He looked over to Mihara's cryo-tube once again, a reminder that his friend was now dead because of this once innocent person. He looked on to his screen, typing away as he hoped that Littlefoot could properly confront Kusaka, and be able to do the one thing that he wasn't sure he could.

At about the same time, Grandpa was sitting by the lake, all by himself. He used to come here with his wife all the time to drink or bathe, and would sit and chat with her for hours.

"We were so good at talking to each other." He thought to himself, before lowering his head in grief. "But now I've got all these kind words to give to you, and you can no longer hear them. You'll never hear them…"

He heard footsteps as he turned and saw his son, Bron, walking towards him slowly. The younger adult longneck settled down next to him on the spot his now late mother usually took.

"Hey Dad." He simply said, looking over at him. "How are you holding up?"

Grandpa didn't respond at first, holding his head down and closing his eyes.

"That well, huh?" He softly asked again, half-jokingly.

"How do you do it, son?" Grandpa responded. "How do you learn to live with something like this? Knowing that the one you loved more than anything is now gone forever, and you'll go for the rest of your days never seeing her face, or hearing her voice again?" He paused for a moment. "You're very strong, Bron...much more so than I…"

Bron sighed and shook his head softly. "I wish I could tell you it gets easier, Dad…That it hurts less and less as you remember it…but it doesn't." He closed his eyes as he remembered his own late wife for a moment. "All I can tell you to do is to live your life, like I do. Whenever I think of Ayla, I know that the last thing she'd want me to do would be to sit around and mourn her for the rest of my life…"

Grandpa just sat and listened as Bron continued. "I felt just like you do now at first, believe me. When I learned that Ayla was dead, I felt like the entire world came to a crashing halt, and nothing really mattered anymore; that I didn't matter. But you know what? I found those lost young longnecks I told you about, and I found out that I DID matter now, even without my wife. I found a reason to keep going on with my life, and I today, I think Ayla would be very proud of me. At least I hope she'd be."

"But…I'm so much older than you, son…" Grandpa responded. "What reason do I have to keep going on?"

Bron scoffed a bit. "Are you kidding? I've still got Littlefoot and Shorty to watch over, and I can't do it by myself." He smiled. "I think if we got both of those boys to grow up well, and use those new powers of theirs wisely, well, I think Mom would be pretty darn proud of you as well as me. Don't you think so, Dad?"

Grandpa looked up and smiled. He had forgotten about his Grandson and his "brother" for this period of time, but not anymore. "You definitely have a point there, Bron." He leaned over and gently nuzzled his son. "Thank you…"

Bron smiled softly. "Anytime, Dad…"

Further away from the valley, Littlefoot, still in his Agito suit, drove along on his bike, determined to find his target as trees and bushes passed him, and smaller creatures dove out of the way. The direction Takumi had pointed him too led to a very rocky area brimming with volcanic activity. He remembered such terrible places from journeys past, the "mountains that burn" as his mother had called them.

In the old days he would have been very hesitant to visit such a place again, but he wasn't the same old Littlefoot now.

"Kusaka…" he thought to himself. "I know you're hiding in here someplace, you murdering monster. If you really think you're my superior, then why don't come out and face me like a true warrior?" He stopped and looked over a ledge before continuing on.

Kusaka was indeed hiding in this hot and rocky place, in the entrance to a cave, sipping water from a full canteen on his bike as he made some minor adjustments to the Kaixa gear, as well as tying together some loose wires on something completely different. It looked like sort of case, with a circular handle in the middle, an unfinished prototype for a new Paxerian weapon that Kusaka had been secretly working on before his escape.

"The sooner I can finish putting this together…" he muttered to himself, "…the sooner I can rid myself of these constant headaches and bring the Professor's suits back to Paxeria where they belong."

He gritted his teeth a bit and made a few more careful adjustments, before snapping the outer casing together completely.

"Ah…done." He smiled to himself. "Now to charge the thing up…"

He was about to get a connector cable and transfer some power from the reserve batteries into the weapon, when he heard the sound of a bike heading his way. He slowly stood up and turned around as he saw Agito stopping his bike and dismounting, walking towards him slowly.

"Kusaka…" Agito stated simply, stopping after walking a few feet closer.

Kusaka looked to his left, and then to his right, before realizing what was going on.

"You came here all by yourself?..." Kusaka said, looking rather surprised. "You're bolder than I thought, young one…Usually animals like yourself attack in packs or herds, or what have you…"

"Don't you DARE call me an animal this time!" Agito shouted "I am not an animal, my friends aren't animals, my father's not an animal….my grandmother wasn't an animal!"

Kusaka walked casually to his bike and picked up the Kaixa gear as Agito ranted.

"You think THAT hurt?" Kusaka responded. "Try watching helplessly as your father is beaten up and decapitated by an impactor twice his size, or seeing your Mother get shot through the stomach and head trying to protect you, or maybe you'd like to try seeing your dear little sister get picked up and thrown like a rag doll into an incinerator!"

Agito looked on in shock and disbelief as Kusaka continued. "Oh yes, I know the pain of loss just as well as you!"

"Well, if that's true, and you know how awful death can be…" Agito shot back. "Then why did you kill her, and why did you kill Mihara?

Kusaka gave him a stern look. "They got in my way…"

Agito just stared at him. "What?..."

Kusaka walked closer with the belt attached to him now. "After my family died, I wanted to make sure that what happened to me doesn't happen to any other Paxerian. I want to rid the galaxy of these dreaded Impactor machines, and these suits are the only way I, and the people of my home, can achieve that. And I will not allow anyone to keep me from completing my task, so if I have to wipe out a few animals to do it-"

"WE ARE NOT ANIMALS!" Agito shouted, much angrier now.

Kusaka sighed and flipped open the Kaixa driver, punching in the code.

"You're quite an angry animal…"

9…

"…You've learned much…"

1…

"But you're still quite ignorant…"

3…

He pressed the enter key. "STANDING BY…" He held the phone up once more, "Henshin…", before sliding it slowly into his belt. "COMPLETE!" The Yellow photon streams coursed over his body, as a flash of light came over him, making him into Kaixa once again.

Kaixa walked closer to Agito and spread out his arms, beckoning him closer. "Come on now…you came here all alone, looking for vengeance…come and get it…strike me!"

With that, Littlefoot sprung into action as Agito, leaping forward and throwing a punch, which Kaixa caught with his hand, before taking a hard kick to the stomach from Agito. Kaixa growled a bit as he walked steadily and threw a few hard punches of his own, as Agito ducked and weaved over each one, before spinning and smashing him across the helmet with a roundhouse kick!

"Gahh!" Kaixa grunted as he took the kick, steadying himself afterward and looking at his opponent. "You've improved…" a slow smile crept under his helmet. "Maybe this will be an interesting contest after all…"

"I'm just getting started!" Agito shouted as he ran in and threw a side kick at Kaixa, which he promptly dodged, and countered with a hard right hand across the helmet that nearly made Agito's head spin.

Agito cried out and nearly fell onto his back as he steadied himself. Kaixa took his shot here and let loose with a flurry of kicks, each one connecting to Agito's arms as he tried to block each one, being backed over to a rock ledge before he threw off one of Kaixa's feet with one arm as he punched with the other, smacking into his chest as he punched with the other, starting to send the Paxerian reeling until Kaxia suddenly saw an opening and grabbed Agito by the throat!

Agito sputtered and grunted in the powerful grip as Kaixa slowly pulled him down towards him. "I've said this before and I'll say it again." Kaixa spoke as he choked Agito. "Never fight unless you're willing to fight di-"

As if sensing what he was about to say, Agito caught Kaixa off guard with a hard right hand into his groin! Kaixa almost howled out in pain as he released Agito from his grip and nearly curled up on the ground.

"I know all about fighting dirty…" Agito responded as he tried to catch his breath, "…and I have my own little saying about that too…don't dish it out if you can't take it…"

Agito looked down at Kaixa as he growled and got back up to his feet. "I don't need a lecture from an animal!" he shouted, as he whipped out his blaygun and fired! Agito leapt to avoid the barrage of bullets, before shifting to his red armored self, and taking out his sword, slicing some of the bullets before reflecting one back at Kaixa, clipping him in the shoulder!

Kaixa shouted out as he clutched his shoulder and looked to Agito, now ready to strike with his sword. "You're trying my patience, young one…not smart…" Kaixa raised his blaygun and extracted the sword portion, which glowed yellow as the lava flowed below them, charging towards Agito with his sword off to the side in his right hand.

The two met in the center of the area as their blades clashed, Agito swiping away like crazy as Kaixa parried each swing expertly, tagging Agito on the sides with his own blade as he swung, and kicking Agito whenever he saw an opening.

The lava below bubbled and sprayed up over them every few minutes, missing them only by a few feet as they swung at each other, Kaixa going for Agito's legs as Agito jumped and swung from above his head, making Kaixa duck and roll out of the way as Agito scored a few hits on his back, making sparks fly as Kaixa yelled and turned quickly, swinging his blaygun swiftly and slicing Agito's chest plate a bit. Agito stumbled as Kaixa grunted and scored a few more hits with some diagonal swings, kicking him away as he rolled onto the ground, moving out of the way as some lava spurted up over him and sizzled on the ground.

Kaixa held his blaygun at the ready as Agito held out his sword with one hand and reached into his belt with the other, pulling out the double bladed staff as his armor changed, taking the blue and red colors of his "Trinity" form once more!

"All the tricks and weapons in the world aren't going to save you from a quick death!" Kaixa shouted, running to Agito as he swung his blaygun, only to have Agito catch it on his sword as he swung his staff from below, slicing Kaixa's armor as he grunted and fell back, sparks flying as he discovered that the cut was so deep, the right side of his chest was bleeding a little.

Kaixa growled as he used his power to patch up the deep cut in his armor, and fired the gun section of his weapon again, only to have every bullet deflected as Agito spun his staff around with his sword.

The fight moved over to a series of sloping rocks that pointed down like a series of descending stair cases connected to each other, and Agito now had the high ground as Kaixa swung and fought as best he could, clashing with Agito's sword as he worked to avoid his staff as well. The energy they put out in their fighting made parts of the earth shake, dislodging some loose rocks above them as they made it onto a flatter part of the rocky ground once more.

Agito was about to score a fatal blow when one of the smaller rocks fell and hit him in the hand, causing him to grunt and fall back as Kaixa took advantage of this, slashing Agito across the helmet as he yelled and dropped his staff, only holding his sword now as the rocks continued to fall.

Kaixa smiled, as he saw his chance for the kill now, running in and slicing Agito's armor numerous times as Agito blocked weakly with his sword, the blow to the helmet having briefly screwed up his vision. Kaixa reared back with his sword a bit and charged recklessly, yelling "DIE!" as he prepared to strike.

But just as he was about to strike the fatal blow, a shower of loose rocks came down from right above Kaixa! Kaixa grunted and yelled in pain as these smaller rocks showered him, striking him and his armor quite hard. Agito saw his chance as his vision cleared up, lifting his staff and performing a series of beautiful looking swings in time with his sword at the same time, cutting through parts of Kaixa's armor as Kaixa yelled in pain, falling onto his back as Agito leaped up and landed close to him, his blades crossed now, with Kaixa's head in between them!

"How does it feel now?" Agito shouted. "How does it feel now that you're the one who's in danger of death?"

Kaixa sneered under his helmet as Agito didn't notice that he was still holding his blaygun, the end of it sticking into the lava as it was quite a heat resistant weapon.

"Pathetic…" Kaixa simply responded, as he brought up his arm quickly, making lava fly onto Agito's armor! Agito screamed in pain as it burned him, singeing much of his chest plate as Kaixa laughed a bit, getting up and striking with his blaygun, which was still hot from the lava!

Agito grunted and yelled as the force of his swings made him drop both of his weapons, his armor smoking as Kaixa backhanded him in the helmet, messing up his vision again as he cocked the gun section of his weapon and fired, hitting Agito with a spray of bullets as he grunted and stumbled on his feet, not able to do much of anything now.

"This is the end for you, young one…" Kaixa said as he took the cover off his Kaixa driver and attached it to his blaygun. "READY…"

He flipped open the Kaixa driver on his belt as he looked at Agito. "You fought well…better than anyone I've fought in a long while… your suit will be prized above all the others when I take it…" With that, he pressed the enter key. "EXCEED CHARGE"

Before Agito could react, Kaixa fired his special energy bullet, which when it hit Agito, wrapped him up an a yellow energy net that fit all around his body, holding him in place as Kaixa growled and raised his glowing blaygun, the yellow sword section ready for the kill as he ran towards Agito!

All time seemed to slow down as Littlefoot looked and saw Kaixa running towards him through his helmet, about to strike the final blow. His mind flashed and ran through all the great things in his life, his home, his friends, and his family…what was left of his family anyway. And here was this person, this evil, twisted, grossly misguided Paxerian about to take his life. To render him permanently unable to experience the joys of life, and leave his friends and family to likely suffer the fate of his poor Grandmother, not only with Kaixa, but with the impactors and the Neo-Organism as well.

But he could NOT let that happen, he thought to himself. There was so much more to be done, so much more to be taken care of. What was done was done, his Grandmother was gone, but there were things now that were far more important than vengeance. And he was not about to let this mad Paxerian, whose whole life was consumed by anger and vengeance, to keep him from continuing his mission.

This new resolve gave Agito focus, and a new determination to defeat all of his enemies…he could also now feel something new inside of him, more powerful than anything he had ever felt, growing and growing as he felt himself pushing at his confinement…

Kaixa yelled out in rage as he slid with his blaygun extended, about to strike at the moment of impact, when a burst of flame suddenly erupted from where Agito was standing, knocking Kaixa back!

Kaixa looked up in disbelief as a new figure suddenly walked out from the flames that came from nowhere. It was Agito, but he looked much, much different from before. The horns on his helmet were wider now as his armor was now larger and more muscular looking, his colors now red and silver with black coverings as his yellow eyes glowed, flames coming off of his shoulders and red chest plate. Agito had achieved a more advanced version that even Prof Mochizuki hadn't expected to develop for quite some time when he built it. It was Agito's "Burning Form" as the professor had dubbed it.

"What the devil is this?" Kaixa shouted as he stood with his blaygun defensively, unsure of what to do now.

"You've spilled blood down here on Earth quite easily, Kusaka…" Agito spoke calmly, getting into a fighting stance. "Let's see how simple it is for you to kill me…"

Kaixa sneered as he readied his blaygun. "Don't get confident, young one…I'm still going to slaughter you; once an animal, always an animal!"

Agito stood there, unfazed by Kaixa's taunting as he roared and ran to him with his blaygun drawn, swinging it. Agito quickly ducked and weaved over every swing, surprisingly quick for his bulky form as he turned and knocked Kaixa several feet back with a single kick!

Agito then reached out with his hand, able to manipulate fire now as he made the firey aura around his chest shoot out, flames covering the ground near Kaixa as he jumped over them, charging Agito again as Agito simply stood and held out his hands, producing a flexible weapon that looked like a staff with two scythe-like blades pointing in opposite directions at each end!

Kaixa swung his blaygun around as Agito blocked each one with his new staff, twirling and hitting Kaixa numerous times as he grunted and yelled in pain, falling back a bit before shooting off the gun section again in desperation. Agito once again deflected most of the shots with his weapon, before Kaixa ran in for another shot.

Kaixa swung his blade and kicked madly from every direction, trying desperately to hurt his opponent before Agito took his shot and punched Kaixa hard on the right side of his helmet, shattering parts of his visor!

Kaixa yelled in pain as parts of the glass cut his face, swinging and kicking blindly in rage as Agito split his staff up into two separate blades, swinging them just as well as he did with his staff as Kaixa swung out for a shot at his head with his blade. Agito quickly caught the blaygun with one blade, and brought the other blade down with his other arm, slicing Kaixa's arm off!

"GAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kaixa screamed in agony as he fell onto the ground, clutching his body as blood flowed freely from where his right arm once was, his armor sparking like crazy as well as he laid on his back, the bleeding stopping quickly as Paxerians could recover quickly from losing limbs.

Agito slowly walked over to the downed Kaixa, and reached down, taking the Kaixa driver out of his belt. Kaixa was too weak to protest as Agito held the device.

"You don't deserve to wear this…" Agito said as he tightened his grip on the Kaixa driver, breaking it in half! The pieces of the device fell to the ground as Kaixa quickly shifted back to Kusaka, panting heavily in pain as he was now on the ground wearing his now useless belt, missing his right arm.

"Go on!" Kaixa shouted. "Go on and kill me you filthy little animal! It's what your kind does best!"

Agito shook his head "No Kusaka…You may be a mudering bastard, and you may deserve to die…but you don't deserve to be killed by my hands." He looked down at the now helpless Paxerian. "See, I've got you figured out now. Ever since you lost your family, you lost your will to live too. All this time you've been fighting and killing, the one thing you've wanted more than anything else has been to die; to die in battle, with honor…"

He shook his head and retrieved Takumi's missing Faiz part from Kaixa's bike, and turned his back on Kusaka. "Well, I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of an honorable death…Goodbye Kusaka…"

Kusaka looked on in disbelief as Agito got onto his bike and drove off, satisfied at leaving him crippled and shamed.

"Don't you leave!" Kusaka shouted as Agito drove away. "Don't you run away, damn it!" He roared to the sky. "NO ANIMAL'S GOING TO SHAME ME!"

Kusaka took out his now useless blaygun from his severed right hand, trying to fire it with his left hand and not getting anything out, before he suddenly heard footsteps, which belonged to somebody who had been watching this fight from nearby.

"Hello Kusaka…" Logia simply said as he walked out from the shadows.

"You…" Kusaka growled, in a combination of fear and anger.

"I told you I was going to finish this another time…" Logia continued as he took out his gun. "…I don't like to be a liar."

Kusaka breathed heavily. "So you're going to take advantage of me now that I'm crippled?..." He shook his head slowly. "You're just as bad as all the other animals on this planet."

"The only real animal on this planet is you, Kusaka…" Logia responded, readying his gun. "…and now I'm going to have to put you down…"

Kusaka scowled as he raised his gun once more, staring defiantly at Logia. "You son of a-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Logia brought up his gun and fired! The shot went right through Kusaka's chest and shattered his spine, killing him instantly! Kuska's dead body fell forward, collapsing onto the rocky ground.

"Such a waste…" Logia said to himself, putting his gun away as he walked towards Kusaka's corpse, taking the Kaixa gear off of him and picking up the shattered remains of the Kaixa driver.

"Hmmmm…looks almost salvageable…I'll see what Lucia and I can do for it.."

He then walked over to the Kaixa bike and saw something odd. It was the device that Kusaka had just finished putting together before the fight.

"This looks interesting…" Logia said as he lifted the case.

He then turned and walked off into the shadows once again, leaving behind the body of a powerful, but angry and hateful Paxerian, his violent murdering streak at last brought to an end.


	13. Another Mystery

A noise could be heard in the silent valley as Littlefoot drove into the area in his Agito suit, getting into the little entranceway before getting off and shifting back into his normal form.

He looked ahead as Shorty came running up to him. He had wanted to go with Littlefoot to help him face Kusaka, but Littlefoot left before he could prepare.

Shorty ran up and looked right at him. "Did you do it?" he asked. "Did you face him?"

Littlefoot nodded softly, not saying anything at the moment.

"So…" Shorty enquired. "Did you kill him?"

Littlefoot just shook his head.

"Ah, man!" Shorty exclaimed. "Don't tell me you let him get away!"

"Don't worry Shorty." Littlefoot responded finally. "He's not going to be bothering us anymore." He had not seen what Logia did to him after he left, so he thought he was still alive.

"How can you be so sure?" Shorty furrowed his brow.

Littlefoot just looked to him and said, "Because it's hard for someone like him to attack with a broken belt, and only one arm."

Shorty's eyes widened as he heard this, and smiled a little. "Oh, I see. You crippled him, and left him in disgrace. I like that. Hehe, now his fate's left with the sharpteeth."

Littlefoot smiled and shook his head a little as he chuckled, while Shorty walked along next to him. "I still can't believe you wouldn't take me with you though. I knew her too, you know. I should've had a shot at him."

"Shorty, I needed someone to stay here." Littlefoot responded. "Cera and Ali are off doing who knows what in the mysterious beyond, and we can't keep counting on Ducky and Takumi to solve all our problems here, or whoever that Leangle guy is for that matter. The impactors could have taken advantage of that and invaded the valley, and I'm convinced they would have needed your help if they did."

Shorty nodded a bit. "I didn't think of it that way. I just thought that you didn't think I was strong enough to take Kusaka for a moment."

Littlefoot immediately responded. "You're a great fighter, Shorty, I'm not questioning that. I mean, I wouldn't even be alive now if it wasn't for you saving me from Doras. I just thought it was more important for you to stay here. We don't want to forget our friends or family here, do we?"

Shorty just shook his head slowly. "No…" he then looked at Littlefoot again. "Sorry I assumed things too quickly."

Littlefoot smiled "C'mon now. Let's go see My dad and Grandpa, and tell them we don't have to worry about Kusaka anymore."

Shorty nodded and walked alongside his "brother".

Meanwhile, back on the ship, Lucia was looking over the device that Logia had brought back from the battle where Kusaka had met his end. She studied the markings and the small number pad closely, as General Balcus paced around the room.

"Do you have any idea what it is?" Balcus asked Logia.

Logia shook his head slowly. "No. I'm not quite as familiar with this form of Paxerian weaponry as Lucia is."

Balcus walked over near Lucia as she was examining the odd case-like device, looking at it very closely as he gently ran a hand over it.

"Perhaps it's some sort of bomb…" Balcus theorized.

"No…" Lucia shook her head quickly. "This is much more complex than any bomb. I'm surprised a troglodyte like Kusaka was able to work on such a thing."

"You know what it is?" Logia asked, stepping forward.

Lucia nodded. "I believe I do…this is a photon amplifier."

"Photon amplifier…" Balcus muttered to himself, before speaking up. "Photon as in those photon streams that power up those Paxerian battle suits?"

"Yes" Lucia answered. "Kusaka intended to use this as a power-up for the Kaixa gear, which would have increased its strength tenfold and given him extra weapons to use."

"Extra weapons?" Logia asked.

Lucia turned to Logia. "That's right. See this case, once it's fully activated, can change itself into the form of powerful gun, as well as provide the suit with a strong jetpack that can enable the wearer to fly." She pointed out the points on the case that enabled these utilities.

Logia nodded. "Well then, I guess it's a good thing that I picked this up too…" he then reached into a bag, and pulled out the shattered remains of a belt and driver.

"Is that what I think it is?" Balcus asked Logia, a curious tone now in his voice

"Yes…what you see here is what remains of the Kaixa gear." He then turned and brought the pieces to Lucia. "I was hoping to see what you could for it."

Lucia gently took the remains and studied them, picking up the Kaixa driver and opening it up, having a look at the inside of it as Logia and Balcus looked on, wondering what her conclusion would be.

Lucia then sighed a bit as she put the driver down and shook her head.

"I'm afraid that the main processor is completely shattered, and many of the photon router chips are missing…I can't fix this."

Logia looked on, surprised. "Not at all?"

She looked up at Logia. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that Kaixa is now as dead as Kusaka is."

Balcus clenched his fist. "Damn! Just as we thought we had a new weapon."

Logia walked over to Lucia again. "Well, I guess we have no need for this, then." He began to pick up the belt, so he could dispose of the junk someplace.

It was then that Lucia's hand suddenly went over his own, grabbing his wrist.

"Wait a moment…we may still have a use for this…"

Balcus looked at her, puzzled. "But, I thought you said you couldn't fix that."

Lucia nodded. "Indeed, the Kaixa gear is damaged beyond repair, but we're quite fortunate to find a mostly intact Paxerian driver and belt that I can study thoroughly…"

"Study for what?" Logia asked, intrigued as he put the belt back down.

"For the possible creation of a whole new battle suit made in this style" Lucia answered.

Balcus stood perfectly still as he heard this, keeping his gaze right on Lucia. "You could do that?…"

Lucia looked right back at him. "I'll have to get this Neo-Organism fellow to cooperate with me for it, but yes, I believe it is possible for me to duplicate this technology."

Balcus then walked to the door of the main bridge where the Neo-Organism resided. "Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's get the thing's attention."

He then pressed a com-link button, as the image of the Neo-Organism appeared on the screen.

"Oh…it's you." The Neo-Organism flatly said to Balcus.

Balcus just sighed as he remembered what happened last time.

"Have we learned to be polite now?" The computerized creature asked.

Balcus just nodded. "Yes, sir." He cringed a bit at the "sir" part, but kept quiet about it.

"Good." It responded. "Then what is it you wanted?"

"We have a project we'd like to start with your help." Balcus stated.

"Oh?" The Neo-Organism responded, curiously.

Lucia walked up with the shattered belt, showing it to the creature in the monitor. "It's true. What you see before you is the shattered remains of Paxeria's Kaxia gear. It's broken beyond repair, I'm afraid, but I think with the right amount of materials and assistance, I could use it to help create a new warrior system in this style. Do you think you could help me build one once you're finished with whatever it is you're doing now?"

The Neo Organism looked down at the shattered belt and back at Lucia, examining everything closely before finally responding.

"Are you joking? I could make two of them…"

Meanwhile, out in the Mysterious beyond, Cera, Ali, and Slick were all driving out on their bikes in their Blade, Chalice, and Garren suits respectively. They were all looking for any signs of Doras, but with little success, as he proved to be just as elusive as ever.

All seemed hopeless until Garren's sharp eyes caught something in the distance, pulling off on his bike.

Chalice took notice and pulled up next to him, as Blade followed.

"Do you see something?" Chalice asked, trying to get a look at whatever Garren saw.

Garren nodded lightly. "It's way out in the distance, and it's very shiny…"

Blade scoffed. "So what? It could just be a pond reflecting the sunlight…"

"No." Garren shook his head slowly. "This is no pond. Believe me."

With that he suddenly started his bike and drove off in the direction of his sighting. Blade looked at Chalice questioningly as she simply shrugged and followed off on her bike.

"I hope we're not wasting our time." Blade sighed, as she revved her bike up and followed as well.

All doubts would quickly be dispelled as Garren lead the way to his sighting, making sure he was looking at the right object as Chalice and Blade followed.

The trio was amazed by what they saw next from the bushes nearby. It was large and metallic. It looked exactly like a starship.

"Oh wow…" Blade responded, now sorry she ever doubted Garren.

Chalice gazed right back at Garren. "Do you think this…"

"…Is where our enemies have been working?" Garren finished her sentence. "Yes. I can't think of any other place around here." He smiled lightly.

"Well, what are we waiting for, then?" Blade said as she got out her sword. "Let's go put an end to all this, right now!"

She was about to make a beeline for the entrance before Chalice grabbed her by the shoulder.

"No! Cera there could be tons of weapons and those fighter guys out there. We can't just charge in there, especially not without the help of the others."

Blade just looked at Chalice and shrugged. "So, what are we supposed to do then? I thought you wanted to kill this Doras guy. Well, there's a good chance he's in there!"

Before Chalice could answer, Garren spoke up.

"I'll go in…"

Chalice looked over and shook her head. "No, Slick. You don't need to do anything that brash right now."

"No, it's ok." Garren smiled under his helmet. "See, I figured out a while ago that the Garren suit is a unit made for the purpose of deception. Illusion."

He looked to Chalice. "You remember earlier, when I split myself in two, right?"

Chalice nodded as he continued. "Well, that was a basic illusion attack right there. I have another tactic as well."

He turned to them as he raised his hand a bit, and ended up vanishing into near-nothingness, a mere outline of him the only thing visible as he activated the stealth camouflage on his suit.

"See…I can make myself invisible." He boasted, before changing back to his visible form, as Chalice and Blade watched, amazed.

Garren then re-activated the unit, making himself nearly invisible once more as he jumped over the bushes, heading for the ship. "Wait for me right here, ok?"

Chalice nodded as she stepped back into the bushes, while Blade leaned against a tree, waiting.

"Oh, and one other thing…" Garren called out as they heard him take out his gun. Before anyone could respond to these sounds, Both Chalice and Blade felt an energy bullet hit their shoulders, making their armor spark.

Chalice grunted as Blade yelped and shouted. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Shhh!" Garren simply responded. "I was shooting off the homing devices on your suits…we don't want the enemy knowing we're out here, do we?"

Blade sighed. "I guess not…but a little advance warning would have been nice!"

Chalice shooshed Blade softly again as Garren made sure his stealth camouflage was in place, before running softly to the ship, finding an open window and climbing inside…

Garren's boots gently touched the metal floor of the ship as he slowly walked along the interior, his camouflage still in place, as he made sure not to make too much noise. The long hallways seemed empty as he made his way along, feeling a bit more confident that he could learn the secrets of this fortress.

That was, until General Balcus could be seen walking in his direction. He quickly and softly reached for the nearest door, finding it locked as Balcus walked closer. Not finding any other alternatives, Garren backed up against the wall, hoping the General would simply pass by.

It seemed like he would, until Balcus stopped just short of Garren, turning his head as if he sensed something. Garren held perfectly still as the Impactor walked closer to the stealth covered figure, not really able to make anything out.

After a few moments, Balcus shrugged and muttered, "My visor needs a check-up…" before walking off, and leaving Garren alone.

Garren sighed softly as Balcus disappeared.

"That was way too close…" he thought to himself. "I should get out of here at soon as possible."

He slowly crept along the halls, at first looking for another window, before he saw something else out of the corner of his eye. General Balcus had left the door open to the room he had just walked out of, a kind of odd habit he had aboard a ship like this. Garren thought over whether to take another chance and walk in, before he heard more footsteps.

This time it was Logia who was walking up the hallway. Well, Garren sure didn't want to stand around with this guy present, so he immediately crept into the open doorway, right before Logia stopped and looked in Garren's direction.

Logia didn't see Garren's outline however, as he just shook his head and muttered, "That lazy oaf…" referring to Balcus as he pressed a button and closed the door behind Garren.

Garren examined the closed door, searching and finding the button that controlled the open and close function before going further into the room he had just entered.

No one seemed to be around inside the room as Garren searched the area. The lights were still on, which made it simple, but that also meant that either Balcus or Logia would be back soon, so he had to work fast. He was about to try and look for another doorway, before his eye caught something else, walking over and examining the Photon amplifier that Lucia had been looking at earlier…

As this was going on, General Balcus was walking idly alongside some of the windows, oiling his large sword as he had placed his shield down for a moment. Lucia was in another room, examining the inner workings of the busted Kaixa gear, as Balcus walked along, before suddenly stopping and turning his head to look out the window. It was then that he saw the lengthy horn on the top of Blade's helmet sticking up from the bushes.

Balcus easily recognized what a horn like that would belong to, as he quickly walked over to where Lucia was working.

"Lieutenant!" he called out to her as she raised her head and looked to Balcus.

"With all respect, sir, I'm rather occupied at the moment…"

Balcus just walked in and stated flatly, "I think someone's spying on us…"

Meanwhile, Logia was in another room, making adjustments to a monitor. Right after he had witnessed the fight between Kaixa and Agito, he had gone back to the Valley and set up a camera in a hidden spot. A special camera that scanned body heat as well as displayed images, since those who had the suits seemed to have a slightly higher body temperature than the others. Logia had never gotten a good look at the creatures who inhabited these suits, and knew that two of them had managed to remove their homing devices a while back, so this was why he set this all up.

All looked normal in the valley as Logia panned the camera left and right with a remote on his armor, looking for the first sign of a slightly elevated body temperature.

He then suddenly froze right in his tracks, and looked right into the screen…he stared for what seemed like an eternity, as if he had just seen something wholly unbelievable.

After this, he slowly turned off the monitor, and rose to his feet. He walked to one of the exits of the ship, saying absolutely nothing at all as he quickly changed into a ball of light and teleported away.

It was then that Lucia walked quickly along the halls, trying to locate the commander as she called out his name, but not finding him anywhere. She then sighed and walked back into another hallway, as she shook her head.

"Now where did he go off to?…"

Outside of the ship, Blade and Chalice looked on at any of the openings, looking for signs of Garren.

"How much longer should we wait for him?" Blade asked.

"I don't know" Chalice responded. "But he's been gone for a while now. Let's just wait a little bit longer, and then go back and get help if he doesn't appear by then."

Blade nodded slowly, and went along with this, before they suddenly heard someone making the sound of clearing their throat in back of them!

The two immediately rose and turned to find General Balcus standing behind them both!

"Well, well…waiting for something?" Balcus asked them, withdrawing his large sword as he readied his shield. "Perhaps just the right moment to come inside and kill all of us, right?"

Blade just took out her own sword and faced down the General.

"Oh right. As if we had to wait for your guard to go down to defeat you at all!"

She then yelled and charged towards Balcus before Chalice could stop her, swinging her sword wildly before Balcus caught it on his sword, throwing it off her hand with a quick swing as he took her down with a hard upward slash, making sparks fly!

Blade grunted as she fell onto her back, as Chalice quickly took out her bow and fired, only to have every shot blocked by the General's shield as he quickly placed his sword on the shield, making a secret compartment open on the thing, which revealed a gun that rapidly fired energy bullets, which sprayed and hit Chalice repeatedly as she yelped and grunted, falling near the downed Blade.

Balcus just shook his head as he looked down at the two warriors. "Did you really think some simple spy work was going to be enough to take us down?"

He kept his back turned as he said this, unaware of Garren, now out of his camouflage, readying an odd, orb shaped weapon behind him as he carried the Photon amplifier in his other hand.

"You creatures really are foolish." Balcus continued. "What good do you think hiding from us is going to accomplish?"

The answer two his question arrived as Garren grunted and threw the orb, which stuck to the back of Balcus' shoulder. Balcus turned to see Garren behind him, readying his shield gun for another blast, unaware of the orb sticking to his back as it suddenly exploded!

"Gahhhhhhh!" Balcus yelled, as the explosion made quite a lot of damage on the right side of his upper body armor. He stumbled and coughed as the smoke from the explosion surrounded his helmet, while Garren helped Blade and Chalice to their feet, waving them over as he ran to his bike, quickly stowing the amplifier into his own bike before taking off with the other two, leaving behind the injured Balcus as he stumbled back towards the ship, finding Lucia as she ran out through the front entrance.

Lucia ran to her injured comrade and helped him stand.

"What happened to you?"

Balcus coughed. "Three of those damned warriors were spying on us, and one of them had a stickybomb!"

Lucia helped him walk back to the ship as he coughed more.

"Where the hell is Logia?" he asked. "We could have easily foiled those three together!"

"I have no clue!" Lucia responded. "He just disappeared a little bit ago."

Balcus grunted in frustration as the two went back inside.

Back in the Valley, Littlefoot was busy explaining what had occurred between him and Kusaka as Grandpa and Bron listened to him, along with Shorty, who was eager to here all the details.

"So, I'd say you have nothing to fear from Kusaka from here on." Littlefoot smiled as he addressed all of them.

Bron nodded, proud of what his son had accomplished. "So you didn't kill him, but in fact crippled him, and left him in shame without giving him the kind of death he wanted. I'd say that's fitting for someone like Kusaka."

Grandpa nodded as well in agreement. "Yes. You did well, Littlefoot. You stood up to that murderer and fought, but you didn't forget whom you really are inside. Your Grandma would be proud, as well as your mother."

"Thanks, Grandpa. I think so too." Littlefoot responded.

"Ah, I still wish I could have been there, and gotten a few free hits on the guy!" Shorty grinned. Petrie and Spike were listening to this as well, along with Ducky, who was holding the Delta gear while Takumi was standing behind her.

All seemed well until a voice called out in back of them all.

"Still eager to fight, are you?"

They all stopped and turned to find Logia walking in, with his gun at the ready, looking right at Littlefoot.

"You…you're the one who defeated Kusaka, right?"

Littlefoot just nodded silently as Logia walked up closer. "Incredible. You went up against a trained and powerful, albeit unstable, young Paxerian warrior, and you still managed to defeat him." He then cocked his gun and gazed at the young Longneck. "Think you can accomplish the same thing against an Impactor?"

Littlefoot just gazed back at Logia. "You've been on this world for a while now, right?…why do you suddenly want to fight me so badly?"

"Now is not a time to be asking trivial questions." Logia responded, before aiming his gun at a nervous Bron. "Just fight me…or do I have to take another loved one from you?"

Shorty, having heard enough of this, quickly leapt up and roared as he shifted into his Gillis suit, charging Logia, only to get thrown to the ground as Logia aimed his gun at Gillis.

"Did I say anything about you fighting me, pest?" Logia growled, as he prepared to fire.

"No!" Littlefoot shouted, quickly changing into his Agito suit.

"If you're so intent on fighting me, then I guess I have no choice but to oblige you."

"Very good." Logia responded, as he took out a familiar device. "As for the rest of you…Giga fighters!"

He yelled the last two words into the device as he threw it into the air, as it split apart and took the form of several giga fighters, making sure they kept everyone else at bay as he faced Agito down.

Takumi quickly slapped on the Faiz gear as he punched in 555 on the driver. STANDING BY… Ducky looked on as she slapped on her belt and punched in 333 on her driver. STANDING BY… The two looked and nodded to each other as Spike and Petrie cheered Ducky on, as they both called out "Henshin!" and slid the drivers into their belts. COMPLETE/COMPLETE…

The giga fighters ran in as the two shifted into Faiz and Delta, while Gillis got back on his feet and charged in as well, knocking a few fighters away with some well-placed kicks before extending one of his tendrils, wrapping up one fighter in it before throwing it into another fighter, smashing them both into pieces, while Delta grabbed one fighter and threw it towards Faiz, who had his sword at the ready as he slashed the fighter, making it split in two as Delta punched another fighter, smashing its helmet.

As this was going on, Agito and Logia faced each other down, before Logia fired his gun at Agito, as he ducked out of the way and kicked Logia in the chest plate, letting loose with a calm flurry of kicks as Logia grunted and suddenly extended a blade from above his right wrist, slashing it at Agito as he jumped back, avoiding each swipe as he suddenly stood in one place and concentrated hard, almost growling as he assumed his burning form once more.

"Yes!" Logia looked on approvingly. "Show me even more of your true power!"

Agito then made his blade weapon appear as he ran in and clashed with Logia's blade. Logia would fire with his gun every so often, as Agito avoided each shot as best he could.

Meanwhile, Gillis was being ganged up on by a group of giga fighters, being punched and kicked from all directions. This wound up Gillis to no end as he suddenly raised his fists and roared out to the sky, suddenly transforming into his "Exceed Gillis" form once again, tendrils now shooting out of his back as well as the arms of his bulkier form as he growled and used them to grab and throw and smash many giga fighters, before extending longer blades on his heels. He then leapt and somersaulted as he targeted one fighter, jamming both the blades into both of its shoulders! The Giga fighter froze as Gillis roared and threw himself off the fighter, which then exploded, and threw all the other fighters aside.

Ducky quickly got out the hand device from before as Takumi readied his sword, fighting off giga fighters at the same time as they prepared their weapons, both of their suits saying READY…

Faiz went first as he pressed the enter key on the driver. EXCEED CHARGE. Energy traveled from the belt to the arm where he held the sword, powering up the balde before he swung it, creating a red energy wave that swept up many giga fighters, holding them up in the air as Faiz ran over and yelled out, swinging his sword twice as it cut through all of the fighters, making them all turn to dust as they crumbled around him, the red Faiz symbol glowing in the dust.

Delta soon followed as she pressed her enter key. EXCEED CHARGE. White energy flowed from the belt to the hand that held the device over it, as it began to make a beeping noise. Delta kicked a few fighters away, until it fully charged, and she soon brought the covered fist forward, smashing it into one fighter as the Delta symbol appeared over it, slowing down for a moment before the impact took its full effect, and the giga fighter went flying and smashed into several other fighters, before exploding.

The fight between Agito and Logia escalated as Logia jumped and spun, firing his gun three times as dodging became even tougher for Agito, getting clipped in the armor more then once as he deflected other bullets with his blade weapon, as Logia extracted his own blade once more, swiping fiercely as Agito clashed with him, being pushed back rapidly.

Gillis saw Logia giving Agito a hard time, and grunted as he threw out one of his tendrils, knocking one of Logia's arms away from Agito! This gave his "brother" an opening, as Agito brought down his blade with a hard slash across the impactor's chest plate!

Logia yelled out in pain as the sparks flew, rolling onto the ground as he fell, getting onto his back.

Faiz suddenly froze and looked on at the downed Logia, as blood began to flow from a under a part of his chest plate!

Logia grunted and rose to his feet, clutching his wound as he eyed Gillis. "You certainly have mastered the art of fighting dirty!" he yelled, before looking to Agito and snarling a bit. "As for you…we're not finished with this…not by a long shot…we will meet again, and when we do, you will cry in pain for the same amount of time you've lived before you finally die!"

Agito stood, unfazed by the threat, as Logia turned into a ball of light, and retreated once more.

Faiz ran up to where Agito was standing, and looked to where Logia was retreating. "Did you see that?…that's not right!" he shouted.

"What are you talking about?" Agito asked?

"Logia…he was bleeding…" Faiz said as he looked on, shocked.

"So?…what should we care about that?" Gillis asked.

Faiz shook his head. "Don't you get it? Impactors are completely robotic life forms! THEY DON'T BLEED!"

Agito, Gillis, and Delta all stood completely still as Faiz revealed this information to them.

As this had all happened, no one was aware of what had just occurred, as the Neo-Organism finished with its experiment, as the closed off lab area began to light up with activity.

Doras looked on as the computerized creature sank slowly into the screen in the middle and began to do something underneath. The screens were all bustling with activity, as images of DNA chains began to come together and organize, shaping into a formation never seen before as it utilized what was found in the remains of the dead female Saurapod.

The engines in the computer were working overtime now as Doras looked on at the screen, as something big began to emerge from under it, rising slowly.

The creature emerging from the screen was big and muscular, having a humanoid shape like Doras, but definitely more reptilian in appearance as it's small brownish scales glistened under the lights, it's eyes red without any pupils, Like Doras, as it was also female, though that wasn't fully noticeable at first glance, due to all the muscle.

Soon, the generation was complete, and the creature stepped off the screen, walking slowly as she breathed heavily and extended the claws on her fingers, just staring ahead as The Neo-Organism appeared on the screen once more, looking to her, and Doras.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" The Neo-Organism mused as it addressed Doras, who simply growled and looked on.

"I thought you'd agree…she has your strength, your agility, and an top of that, the instincts and knowledge of an experienced inhabitant of this planet, something that you, my friend, are sorely lacking."

Doras just growled again as The Neo-Organism smiled. "Doras…say hello to your new sister…I shall name her…Viras."

Doras simply looked at the newly christened creature as she looked back at Doras and growled a feminine sounding growl, opening her mouth to reveal her grotesque and sharp teeth…


	14. The Shocking Truth

The lights flickered on in the infirmary of the Neo-Organism's ship, as Lucia helped the injured Logia into the room. She had caught him arriving earlier, the blood running down his chest plate as she took extra care to make sure General Balcus didn't see him like this.

She sat him on the table as she took out a few wound-healing implements, slipping them inside Logia's armor as she cleaned up any blood in the room.

"That was a bold move, Logia" she told him as she worked on his wound. "But a little too bold, even for you."

Logia didn't say anything, breathing heavily as the devices helped to heal his wounds.

Lucia looked him right in the face as she worked. "Why, Logia?…You could have attacked those creatures randomly at any time you wished. Why did you attack them just now?"

Logia just shook his head and lowered it a little, just waiting for the healing to finish. "You wouldn't believe me, even if I told you, Lucia." He obviously had made some kind of discovery, but was reluctant to share it for some reason.

"Try me." Lucia simply responded, as she cleaned up the last of the blood.

Logia looked straight at her as he gave the female impactor his answer.

"I found them…"

Lucia froze, and slowly turned her head to him once more…

Meanwhile, General Balcus was standing in the main room with the Neo-Organism, wondering Where Lucia and Logia were, before the computer revealed Viras, standing right next to Doras.

"By the creator!" Balcus exclaimed. "You made this creature yourself?"

"It was a long replication process using the remains of a dead native of these lands." The Neo-Organism responded. "But she was well worth the effort."

Balcus looked at the Neo-Organism. "You mean to tell me that thing is a female?"

The Neo-Organism nodded. "Indeed she is. Viras was not only created from the remains of an earth creature, retaining all of the instinct and knowledge of this world, but being a female, the gender most experienced in the realm of creation, she is far more capable of bringing my more advanced creations to life than Doras is.

"Advanced creations?" Balcus gave the computer a funny look.

"Show him…" The Neo-Organism ordered Viras.

She growled and nodded obediently as she held her claw to her lower belly, a ball of light forming in her palm as she held her hand back out, growling as the light left her palm and floated to the floor, growing as it took another humanoid shape.

Balcus stepped back a bit and watched, as a new creature was born from the light, a large bulky humanoid figure with three horns. The Neo-Organism was obviously taking the designs of the Earth creatures and twisting them for his own purposes, as the mutant three-horn stood roaring and stomping its two legs, flexing its bulky arms as it gazed on with red glowing eyes.

Viras stood near the creature, as Doras looked on and growled in approval. Balcus, meanwhile, walked closer to the Neo-Organism and nodded, obviously impressed.

"That is quite the impressive specimen you have." He looked on at the mutant three-horn. "Do you think this one can succeed where all your other creations, including Doras, have consistently failed?"

The Neo-Organism looked back at the General confidently. "Always so eager to call my abilities into question, aren't you, General?"

The mutant growled next to Doras and Viras as the computerized vision continued. "Like Viras, this creature is made from much of the genetic material that makes up the most impressive animals that roam this planet. I am confident that its instincts and built in knowledge of the Earth will be crucial in the inevitable defeat and death of our opposition."

Balcus nodded as he heard this. "Good…the better this thing can do its job, the quicker we can put an end to this troubling conflict, and get a hold of those incredible suits once and for all."

"Speaking of suits…" The Neo-Organism spoke up. "I've been working on the information Lieutenant Lucia gave me on the destroyed Kaixa gear, and I've already managed to begin work on a prototype. Would you like to see it?"

Balcus looked over as a door suddenly opened on the side of the room, leading into a new chamber. The Impactor nodded and walked closer to the passageway from the main computer room.

"Yes, please…"

Back on the outskirts of the Valley, Rock was busy training, in his Leangle suit once more. He swung his staff right and left, still enraged from his last defeat at Kaxia's hands, not aware of the Paxerian warrior's death as he tossed a stone into the air and spun, using a new move that cleaved the hard object in two.

"Rock!" he heard a familiar voice call out, as he turned and saw Slick, who had just separated from Cera and Ali, driving towards him on his bike, waving.

Rock just nodded as he changed back into his normal form.

"Hey Slick. How'd it go with the two girls?"

Slick hopped off his bike and changed out of his Garren suit. "Oh not too bad, though a lot better than it turned out with you, apparently. What's this I'm hearing about you showing up once in the valley, and then not bothering to show up again?"

Rock grunted angrily, then sighed as he decided not to get too mad about this.

"Slick, I'm not strong enough yet. If I'm gonna go into battle and actually be a help to those I'm saving, then I need to train some more, until I AM ready."

"And how do you know when you're ready, huh?" Slick retorted. "Rock, somebody DIED after your last fight. Didn't you stop to think that the same thing might have happened again with your continuing absence?"

Rock got right in Slick's face now, upon hearing the mention of Grandma's death. "What difference is it going to make if I'm not trained well enough? You're right Slick, someone DID die in the last fight I was in, and the reason she died was because I wasn't good enough to stop it…" He turned his back on Slick and looked down, ashamed. "It was my fault she got killed, Slick. I wasn't strong enough…"

Slick sighed as he walked up next to his friend. "Rock…even the strongest of us can't stop death sometimes…you did your best, I know you did. You were always too strong and proud to do any less…. you can't let this one death deter you, Rock, or else more and more dinosaurs are going to end up just like the one you saw die. Are you about to just sit idly by and let that happen?"

Rock just sighed and began to walk away.

"Rock? Rock, where are you going?" Slick asked.

"Just leave me alone for a while, Slick." Rock said as he walked off. "I need to sort this out myself."

Slick just nodded as Rock vanished. "Ok, pal. Just don't take too long to figure out where you stand."

Back in the valley, Cera and Ali returned to hear the news about Kaixa's death, and the unusual bleeding from Logia, as they explained their meeting with Slick, and the discovery of the Neo-Organism's ship on the planet, before giving Takumi the photon amplifier that was formerly in possession of the Impactors.

"My creator, this is one impressive device." Takumi said aloud as he adjusted some wires with a few tools from his ship, while the others, including an interested Ducky, looked on.

"I always knew that Kusaka had a proficiency in engineering as well as in fighting skill, but this goes way beyond any expectations I had for him." He looked at the inner workings of the amplifier. "He must have spent months putting this thing together."

Shorty walked up a little closer to Takumi. "So, what does this thing do again?"

Takumi looked up from his work. "Well, simply put, this device adds extra power to the photon streams of a Paxerian battle suit, giving extra strength, and agility, as well as extra weapons. It can't be used for any of Prof Mochizuki's suits I'm afraid, however, with the right adjustments, I can get this to work for my Faiz gear."

Ducky immediately chimed in. "What about the Delta gear?"

Takumi chuckled a bit as he made his adjustments. "Let's not go that far yet Ducky. I'm sure I could rig it to work on Delta as well, but that's going to take some more time. And besides, you need to master using Delta in its normal form anyway before you try anything more powerful."

Ducky nodded as they all suddenly heard the noise of a motorcycle approaching. It was Garren, sitting atop his vehicle as he pulled in near the group and got off, changing back into his true form.

"Hey Slick" Ali said, greeting the young male duckbill as he nodded and smiled.

"Ah, so you're the one Ali and Cera have been telling us about." Littlefoot said, as Slick nodded.

"That would be me." The duckbill nodded as he walked past a very interested looking Ducky.

Slick just stopped a moment, and then waved to her before walking on. "Hello."

Ducky just giggled a bit as she waved and nodded, immediately taking an interest in the confident young male.

Cera then looked around, a bit curious, but not wanting to appear that way, as she addressed Slick.

"So, where's that three-horn friend of yours…Rock, I think his name was?"

Slick sighed a bit as he looked over at Littlefoot. "Oh, him…well, he's going through some rough times right now. See he blames himself for your Grandma dying."

"Well, he shouldn't…" Littlefoot responded calmly. "There wasn't anything that any of us could have done to prevent that. Grandma made a choice to stand up to Kusaka, and she accepted the consequences."

Slick nodded. "I'm sure he'll come around eventually. We just have to give him a little time."

Littlefoot nodded softly as Cera walked over to where Ali was standing.

"Hey." She addressed the longneck. "How are you holding up?"

Ali shook her head a bit. "A little disappointed. We set out to look for Doras, and once again came up empty. I mean, sure, we got that thing over there, and discovered where the enemy was hiding, but I still couldn't take my revenge for what he did to my herd."

Cera walked a bit closer to her. "Hey, buck up there…you're gonna get your shot eventually. I know this sounds a bit weird coming from me, but you've gotta be patient in these matters. Just wait for your shot, and take it. And believe me, once you do, I'm gonna be right by your side to help you do it. Because I know what it's like when someone I care about is attacked like that."

"Thanks, Cera." Ali responded as she turned to her and smiled a bit.

Meanwhile, Shorty was making a strong case for an invasion as soon as possible.

"If we know where our enemies are now, I say we just go in and hit them when they least expect it. Tear that ship down piece by piece, and put an end to this thing once and for all!"

Littlefoot shook his head. "Shorty, we haven't survived this long by underestimating our foes. If we just go in and try to kill them where they live, they're going to have a lot of different defenses against us."

Ali soon chimed in. "Not only that, but we have no real clue as to what this Neo Organism thing is capable of. Plus, the impactors have someone else helping them now."

Takumi immediately looked up from his work, very curious. "Who, Ali?"

Ali shook her head. "I never got his name. But he was big guy, very quick though, with a huge sword, and a gigantic shield. He was covered in this blueish armor."

Takumi's eyes immediately grew wide. "General Balcus…"

"You know that guy?" Cera furrowed her brow as she asked.

"Yeah." Takumi responded. "He's a decorated general who's served the Impactor planet's forces for years and years…it's a bit strange he wants to help Logia though, because there's been a fair amount of tension between those two. See, it took years for Balcus to become a general, while Logia went quickly through the ranks, and became a commander in a matter of months. Obviously there's a lot of jealousy from Balcus that's stayed to this day."

He sat for a moment, wondering what it could all mean, before something went off on his Faiz driver.

Takumi picked up the device and flipped it open to show the screen, seeing a signal that was giving off the beeping noise.

"What is it?" Ducky as asked as she stood next to Takumi.

"There's something nearby…" Takumi said as he looked at the driver. "The scanner on this thing is not too great, but this time it worked. Whatever this thing is, it's big…and looks like it has a couple of friends too."

Littlefoot nodded on as he looked, while Shorty got right up on his feet.

"Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let's go out and keep this big guy from getting any closer to the valley."

"I'll agree with you there, Shorty" Littlefoot said as he smiled.

Cera ran up and nosed Ali a bit. "Come on. Let's stop brooding about the past and look to stopping these creeps now!" She ran off as Ali nodded and smiled, following her.

Ducky picked up the Delta gear nearby, and looked down at her driver for a moment, as if still doubting her abilities somewhat, as Takumi noticed.

"Don't get lost in your thoughts at times like this." He told her. "Just act. You know what needs to be done, and you know how to do it. You're a lot stronger than others give you credit for, Ducky. Never forget that."

Ducky nodded a bit as she lowered the driver, before Slick took her by the hand and smiled.

"Come on." He told her. "We musn't keep our allies waiting." Ducky giggled a bit as she followed.

As this was going on, General Balcus was watching a screen in the main room as a door opened, and Lucia walked in, looking to her left and right.

"Good afternoon Lieutenant." The General nodded to her, before looking around to find someone missing. "Where is the commander?"

"I'm not sure…" Lucia responded. "I went to check on him in his quarters earlier, and he wasn't there…I thought maybe he was with you."

General Balcus shook his head. "He hasn't been with me for some time."

Lucia suddenly turned her head to a window, before gasping as if she had just thought of something, and ran off towards the entrance.

"Oh lord, no!" she shouted, as she ran out the exit.

"Lieutenant!" Balcus shouted. "Just where do you think you're going?"

He was about to pursue the female impactor further, before something caught his eye, making him stop. He leaned down and saw something smeared on the hall's floor tiles below, a stain of blood, which Lucia had not seen, from when Logia was brought into the infirmary.

Balcus took some of the blood onto his fingers and rubbed it a bit.

"What the hell is going on, here?"…

Time passed, and everyone, save for Takumi, who was still making adjustments to the amplifier, had transformed, each going splitting up in an attempt to surround the approaching creatures.

Littlefoot drove along in his Agito suit on his bike, threading himself through some rock walls, before sensing something and coming to a stop at a clearing.

Agito looked to his left and to his right...he definitely sensed something, but it wasn't what Takumi had detected. He turned and instinctively ducked as a blast of energy shot past his head, nearly hitting him as it blew up on some rocks nearby!

The warrior quickly rose and rolled out of the way of another shot, which nearly grazed his side as it blew up some more rocks near the valley wall!

Agito quickly collected himself as he saw a shadow forming in the dust from the explosions, moving towards him.

"What do you want?" Agito asked the figure, which came out of the dust to reveal the form of Commander Logia.

"Your head on my mantle…" Logia simply responded.

Agito just looked at the Impactor, confused. "Why me?" he asked. "Out of all the others who have these suits, why are you so eager to fight me?"

Logia just looked down for a moment, almost shaking as if the most terrible thought in the world, before looking back up at Agito and breathing heavily.

"You turned her against me!"

Agito furrowed his brow under his helmet. "What?"

Logia growled. "Don't play dumb with me! You know very well what happened all those years ago!"

Agito put up his hands. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about!"

"You lie!" Logia roared out, before extending the blade from his wrist and charging Agito!

As this happened, all the other warriors approached the targets in their suits, finding Doras standing with Viras, as the mutant three horn roared, standing ahead of them.

"Look at the size of that thing!" Slick shouted in his Garren suit.

Ali nodded in her Chalice suit. "And look who's with it…Doras!" She immediately readied her bow as Cera, in her Blade suit, got a good look at Viras.

"There's something else standing next to him…It's just as big and ugly!"

Ducky looked to her right and left, in full Delta gear now. "Hey, where's Littlefoot?"

Her question was answered when the group was distracted by an explosion nearby.

Gillis shook his head. "I guess he's occupied right now."

Blade revved up her bike. "Well, what of it? We've still got a job to do, even if he's been distracted from his own. We've gotta keep these things from getting into the valley! Our families are depending on us!"

Blade charged towards the mutant three-horn on her bike as Gillis and Chalice nodded to each other softly, and charged on with her, as Garren gently held Delta's hand, and nodded to her before driving off to join her, as Delta took off after him.

Blade yelled out in rage as she faced down the mutant, which charged right towards her on the bike, and knocked her off it with its horns as she went flying onto the ground!

Gillis and Chalice immediately pulled up on their bikes, as Delta got off and ran over to Blade's side, helping her back up as Gillis roared and leaped into the air, extending his tendrils as the mutant got a hold of them, throwing him into Chalice before she could launch an arrow at it!

As Delta was helping Blade, Garren whipped out his gun and aimed at Viras, who blocked every shot with a right forearm that seemed to be made of metal. She growled as she suddenly launched a hidden dual laser cannon on her shoulders, the blast knocking Garren back several feet as Delta gasped, taking out her own blaster and firing as a few hits scored, knocking Viras back as Doras stepped in, sending a scattershot with his own shoulder laser, which exploded around Delta as she fell down for a moment, prompting Blade to yell out and pull out her sword as she ran towards Doras and swung it, slashing though sections of his body as he snarled in pain, taking an energy arrow in the back too as he turned and saw Chalice standing behind him.

As this was going on, Agito was still engaged in a fierce duel with Logia, who was as relentless in his attacks as ever, taking numerous swipes with his blade as he'd nic his armor every now again as Agito ducked and avoided the weapon. He then pulled out both his sword and double bladed staff, changing to the red and blue armor of Trinity form once more, as he used his sword to catch Logia's blade, and the swung the staff below him, putting an impressive slash in Logia's lower stomach as sparks flew!

Logia fell back and grunted as Agito looked down, and once again saw blood leaking from his armor. Logia growled a bit in pain as he slowly got back onto his feet and clutched his wound.

"Takumi tells me that Impactors don't bleed." Agito told the Commander as he stood there, just looking back at Agito and not answering. "If that's true, then why is it that you do?"

Logia just took out his gun once more and breathed heavily. "I'm not going to tell you anything about me that you didn't have the decency to remember in the first place!" He then fired his gun once more as Agito blocked the shot with his staff, making it ricochet and hit Logia in the chest plate! Logia roared out in pain as he fell onto his back.

"What?" Agito asked aloud. "What is it that I'm not remembering? Please make some sense!"

Logia grunted and got back onto his feet, not saying a word as he readied his gun again. Agito got into a fighting stance once more, before something suddenly shot out from the right, a series of laser blasts hitting Logia as he yelled out in pain and rolled onto the ground again!

Agito turned to see General Balcus standing with his shield extended, having just fired the gun hidden inside of it, while Lucia, who he caught up with on the way, stood there shaking her head, reluctantly going along with the General.

He watched as Logia grunted and got back to his feet, staring at the General. "What is the meaning of this? How dare you attack me!"

Balcus took a hold of Logia's arm. "Sir, sometimes a General's job is to step in when he thinks the Commander is not stable enough to continue doing his duty. This, obviously, is one of those times, Commander!"

"Let go of me!" Logia shouted, as he struggled with the general, who took a firm hold of Logia, and transported away with him, as Lucia sighed, and transported with them.

Agito looked up, very confused now. "What in the world is going on?"…

Meanwhile, all the warriors turned their attention to the mutant three-horn as it roared and charged around the area, knocking away anyone in its way as Delta took out her gun and fired standing next to Garren with his gun, both firing as the combined firepower knocked the mutant back a bit, as Chalice spun and fired a spread shot of energy arrows, which smashed into the mutant as it roared and charged towards her, before Blade stepped in and charged up energy in her arm, firing a bolt of it from her sword as the mutant took a hit, while Gillis leapt in and growled as he transformed into "Exceed Gillis" mode, his bulkier form manifesting as the extra blades appeared on his body, swinging them everywhere as he pushed the mutant back, only to be met by the ruthless laser blasts of both Doras and Viras, which soon went around smashing into everyone!

Blade grunted as she was pushed back. "This is getting really tough to keep up! I wish Littlefoot were here, we could use one more warrior!"

As soon as she said that, the ground suddenly shook, and the mutant took notice with the other two creatures. They all turned to see Rock in his Leangle suit, having just caused another tremor with his staff!

"Rock!" Garren yelled out to his friend. "You came back!"

Leangle nodded gently. "I've had enough of brooding over what's already been done. I want to make the future safer for everyone still living!"

With that, Leangle leapt into action, swinging his powerful staff as he took on both Doras and Viras, kicking Doras away as he slashed at Viras with the blades on his weapon. Viras grabbed him by the neck for a moment, but was soon repelled by Garren as he took out his gun and fired at Viras, causing her to let go as everyone else was keeping the mutant at bay.

It was then that another figure drove onto the scene on his bike…it was Takumi, in his Faiz gear as he looked over at the group.

"Every day, they keep pulling out new weapons on us." He shook his head as he looked out at the mutant, and Viras standing with Doras. "It's about time we beat these guys at their own game."

With that, he took out the photon amplifier, and removed the Faiz driver, slipping it into the device. A voice called out "AWAKENING…" as he pressed a power-on button on the side. "STANDING BY…" before re-entering the code: 555, then pressing enter. "COMPLETE."

A new transformation occurred, as the Faiz suit gained some extra bulk, the mostly black coverings over the metal armor turning red as part of the device came off and turned into a powerful rifle, attaching the other section to his back as it formed a rocket pack, taking off into the air!

Everyone was stunned as they turned to see Faiz in his new "Axcel form" as he flew over and fired some rapid shots from his rifle, pushing back Doras and Viras as Leangle helped fight them off, making them retreat as Faiz turned his attention to the mutant, turning a switch on the rifle, which the Faiz driver was inside of, as the familiar "READY" was heard, before he pressed enter on the number pad on the rifle. "EXCEED CHARGE"

Faiz then fired a single shot, which hit the mutant, and created a strong energy field that kept it from running away, holding it there, as he yelled out and flew over on his jet pack, picking up speed as put his arms at his side and aimed himself right for the mutant's middle…

Everyone watched in awe as Faiz suddenly shot right through the creature's middle, creating a huge gaping hole in its midsection! The Mutant just stumbled and choked as it stood there, before finally falling forward onto the ground, exploding!

Faiz landed and turned to the rest of the group, holding his rifle as he looked at them all.

"Well…you should all be thankful I'm such an efficient repair man." He smiled under his helmet as the others chuckled and then applauded their ally, while Garren went over and patted Leangle on the back, as the two nodded to each other.

As this was going on, back on the ship, an angered Logia was walking into a room, with Balcus and Lucia behind him.

"I appreciate your concern, General, but I know what I'm doing!" the commander stated firmly as he turned to face Balcus.

"Oh, I'm sure you do…" Balcus nodded softly, looking to Lucia. "I'm sure you BOTH do!"

Lucia put her hands on her sides. "What is THAT supposed to mean, General?"

Balcus sighed for a moment…he felt it was better to just show them as he showed his glove, with the blood on it he discovered earlier. "I found this out in the hallway earlier…I ran it through a scanner, and do you know what it told me?…it told me that this blood came from YOU!" he pointed a finger at Logia. "Now why is that?"

Logia didn't say anything as Lucia tried to speak up. "General, are you sure that scanner is-"

"And you!" Balcus was now pointing at Lucia. "You, I just can't figure out…You prove your abilities as a leader and quality fighter again and again, yet 5 times now, 5 TIMES, you have been offered an advance in rank, and you've rejected each offer…No impactor is that humble without a reason, not even you, Lieutenant. So something's telling me that there's more to this than meets the eye!"

Lucia nodded softly. "You're very perceptive, General. I've rejected every offer for advancement, because I do not want to be separated from Logia."

"But why?" Balcus asked, puzzled. "You've shown such devotion to him, yet you two have never committed as a couple. You've never performed the bonding ceremony. Plus, that still leaves us with the issue as to why Logia can bleed like an organic…I already know he's a sypher (A military model impactor built without government consent), but now I know there's more to his existence than that…much more."

Lucia just nodded gently and sighed as she heard all of this, realizing there was no point in trying to hide all this from him anymore.

"Again, you're very perceptive General, and it's clear you're not going to leave us alone until you understand, and share in our secret."

Logia stood there watching as Lucia nodded over to him. "Logia…show him…"

"Show me what?" General Balcus asked, turning around.

Logia nodded gently as he reached up to his head, reaching for a few hidden switches, and flicking them up around his helmet. A hissing sound was heard as Logia flipped up the last switch, reaching to the top part of his helmet, and pulling on it, as the bulk of it soon separated from the bottom part that connected to the rest of him, revealing another head underneath…

Balcus looked on in absolute shock as Logia pulled his helmet away, revealing the face of an adolescent longneck beneath it! The face was somewhat similar to Littlefoot's, but was horribly scarred in a few places, respirator tubes hooked into his nose as wires were jacked into the flesh on his now shortened neck, breathing comfortably as he stared at general Balcus, his ghostly gaze piercing him.

All General Balcus had for a response was "My lord…"

Lucia looked on and broke the silence again. "General, this is Logia…the real Logia…"

Logia just looked on at the two, not saying a word…


	15. The Making of a villain

Years ago…

A nest was in a muddy field in the middle of nowhere, the rains once again coming down as a single female longneck, and two older longnecks were watching over it. But even they couldn't watch out for everything, as there were now only two eggs left intact in the nest.

The mother was sleeping peacefully now, as a slick little egg-napping dinosaur walked by, and gently picked up one of the eggs, running off into the night as the rain came down, getting ready to enjoy its new treat as it ran along.

That was, until, another angry egg-napper rammed itself into the one holding the egg from out of nowhere, trying to steal the egg for itself as the two wrestled, the egg rolling away as they fought.

It rolled on and on, for what seemed like an eternity, before stopping in a spot far, far away from the nest it came from, unable to be seen by egg-nappers, or anyone else for that matter.

A few days passed, as the egg finally began to move, cracking open a bit as something struggled inside of it. A baby longneck slowly began to break through, pushing through the shell with no one around to witness the event, collapsing and laying there as the baby male longneck was fully born.

It looked to its left, and then to its right…nothing was there. No mothers to comfort him, keep him warm, or feed him. The baby whimpered and mewled a bit as it slowy rose to its shaky feet and wandered off, with no one to guide him, all alone in the world.

Hours passed, as the baby longneck walked on by himself, far from the nest he came from as he mewled and cried, looking for any sign of a mother and father, as he began too feel weak and dizzy from lack of food.

It was clear now that nobody was going to help this poor child, as he collapsed and lay on his side, a series of tears falling from his eyes as he closed them, living all alone in this cruel world, and soon would die in it.

That would have been, if not for being spotted by something…something that did not belong on this planet.

The baby could hear light footsteps, very weakly picking up his head as something that walked on two legs stopped and kneeled by his side.

Impactor Lucia looked down at the baby longneck, stroking its side gently. She had been visiting earth to do some research, to look at any natural resources earth had that the Impactors could tap into in the future.

"My lord…" she whispered. "What sort of mother would leave a newborn like this…" she stroked the longneck some more as he lay his head on her hand.

"It's a good thing you're still alive." She added, before gently scooping the baby up into her arms and began to carry him off. The baby was confused, but in no condition to refuse any help, as Lucia took him to her cloaked ship, and opened the door.

The rain was no longer beading down on them as Lucia took the baby into the main lab room, drying him off with a towel. This was an uncharacteristic move for the female impactor, but something about seeing him lying there without a family got to her somehow.

"It's amazing…the kind of cruelty that organics are capable of sometimes…" Lucia shook her head slowly as she finished drying the baby, as it sat on the table and looked at her, mewling softly.

"I bet you're hungry.." she said, as she reached to a lab nearby that had been scanning local plant life, and plucked a few leaves from one specimen.

"Lucia…" the ships computer chimed in. "I haven't finished with that scan yet."

"I'm in no hurry" Lucia responded. "I'll grab another specimen tomorrow."

"Very well."

Lucia then set the leaves down next to the baby, who sniffed them and licked them, before finally beginning to munch on them as Lucia nodded in approval.

"That's right…your kind likes leaves like that." Lucia said aloud, looking on as the baby ate slowly, smiling a bit at the impactor before walking over and nuzzling her on the table.

Lucia chuckled a bit. "I suppose I could let you stay with me for a while. You're a fascinating creature, and it would be a shame to let you loose now…all you need is a name."

The baby smiled and lied down happily, snuggled against Lucia as she stroked him gently. "I know…I'll name you Logia, after that Martopian hero from ancient times I read so much about."

She chuckled as the baby mewled a bit and smiled, snuggling in.

"I guess you like it, then." She mused, stroking him as he slowly fell asleep.

"Rest well, Logia…"

Time passed since that night, as Logia was now old enough to start tagging along with Lucia on her outdoor excursions.

"Lucia!…Lucia!" he called out to her, the young longneck galloping along as he approached the Impactor at her studies.

"What is it this time, Logia?" Lucia chuckled a bit.

"I found it, Lucia!" he jumped for joy, almost. "I found the hopper!"

"Really now?" Lucia stood up upon hearing this. "Take me to it, then."

Logia smiled and nodded as he galloped off to the pond where he had discovered the hopper. He was far ahead of Lucia, but it didn't matter, as Lucia teleported over to the pond, looking down into the water.

"It's right over there…" Logia nodded over to the rock where the hopper was sitting. Lucia quickly got out a scanner and aimed it at the creature, looking into the screen on the handle.

"Ah good…exactly the species I was looking for." She said.

"Why did you want to see it so badly?" Logia enquired.

Lucia chuckled. "Because this species is quite unique among all the others…see, in some cases, it can change its gender to survive certain conditions…it's a boy now, but it can easily become a girl as well."

"Really?" Logia giggled. "That's weird".

Lucia nodded. "Oh yes…there's a lot of weird things to be seen in the organic world. Much more than you can ever know, little one."

Logia furrowed his brow. "You say that word all the time…organic…what does it mean?"

Lucia knelt down near the young Longneck. "Well…organic is what you are…you have a heart, a brain, all kinds of organs that keep you alive." She then felt her own form for a moment.

"I, on the other hand, am mechanical. I have none of the organs that you do, but rather a series of wires and mechanisms that sustain me." She pulled back one of the panels on her arm, showing off some of her internal circuitry for Logia as he looked on in wonder.

"Wow…so you don't have a heart?"

Lucia shook her head. "Nope. Just a central processor." She chuckled.

"But, I hear all those stories you tell me from the other worlds, and the heroes always have good heart, that allows them to do all those nice things. How can you be so nice if you don't have a heart, Lucia?"

Lucia chuckled a bit. "Well, I'll let you in on a little secret, Logia…You're the only organic I've EVER been this kind to…most of the time, I'm fighting them with my fellow Impactors on other worlds…you see, Logia, while its true that a heart can lead to many good deeds, a heart is also corruptible. It can twist an organic, and lead them to do very cruel things. For instance, on my home planet, we are still refused the same rights and privileges of the other planets in Universal Brotherhood, simply because we Impactors are mechanical instead of organic. Many of them believe that we are not fit to even exist, and that is why we fight with some of them now."

Logia sat down next to Lucia slowly. "Did my mother's heart get corrupted?…is that why she left me all alone?"

Lucia stroked him softly. "I don't know, Logia…I have no clue why she did what she did. But like I said, organics are much more inclined towards cruelty at times than kindness."

Logia thought this over for a moment, before something beeped on one of Lucia's scanners. She picked it up and looked at it. "Hmmm…"

"What is it, Lucia?"

She turned to Logia slowly. "This scanner's picking up a lot of building seismic activity…it looks like its all going to be released by tonight, creating one hell of a series of tremors. The land might even start tearing itself apart. My entire research area is going to be destroyed from the looks of it. I'll have to back home after tonight."

Logia looked on sadly. "You're…leaving?"

Lucia walked over and nodded as she put away her scanner. "I'm afraid so…but I don't want to leave you here all by yourself either."

"What do you mean?" Logia tilted his head. "You want me to come with you?"

"Of course." She nodded. "I know a lot of beautiful planets on the outer rim, much closer to my home than this place. I could put you in the care of one of the locals, and come and visit you as often as I can."

"Wow!" Logia exclaimed. "I'm actually gonna get to go up there with you?" he looked up at the stars, imagining all the wonderful possibilities.

Lucia nodded "Yes. Just be sure to be at the grove where my ship is by later tonight, and I'll welcome you right aboard."

Logia grinned and immediately nuzzled her. "Thanks Lucia…you're a great friend." He then took off to do some more exploring as Lucia looked on.

"The High commanders would have a fit if they ever discover what I'm about to do…but I don't care." She thought to herself. "This little organic has touched me in a way I never felt possible. And I will not leave him here on this hell hole to be eaten, or worse."

She got up and teleported back to her ship.

Time passed, and night had fallen, as Logia ate some sparse leaves, getting ready to head back to the grove where he'd find Lucia. He walked along, keeping his eyes on the path, until he heard something in the distance. It sounded like footsteps…big ones.

He looked over and saw something in the distance, two young dinos, a longneck and a three-horn, running away from a huge sharptooth. The longneck looked a lot like him, but that wasn't at the forefront of his mind right now.

"Those two are running away in the wrong direction…he can stay right on their scent with the wind blowing like it is." He thought to himself, remembering what Lucia taught him.

"I'd better go down there and re-direct them!" he resolved, his good nature leading him along as he went on trying to approach them from the opposite direction, to keep the Sharptooth off his scent.

He raced down into the rocky areas nearby where the Sharptooth had pursed them. The ground began to shake suddenly as the rocks began to dislodge and fall.

"Oh no." Logia thought. "It's happening already. I'd better act fast!"

He ran and ran, avoiding all the falling rocks as he steadied himself on the shaky ground, before he saw something in the distance.

The Sharptooth was now fighting with an adult female longneck, who was doing what she could with a badly injured back, among other things.

It was as he was watching this that he finally realized. There were no other longnecks in this area that he knew of. In fact, he never saw anything like his own kind until tonight.

"Could it be?" he asked himself as he walked closer to the fight, seeing the other young longneck trying to run away as the female battled with the Sharptooth.

Logia took in her scent, which seemed somehow familiar as she fought. "Mother?…"

Logia's jaw dropped as he walked slowly out from behind a rock, lost in the moment as The female swung her tail, too focused on the fight to notice anything of this other young longneck as she was too focused on the young longneck running off with the three-horn.

"Mother…it's really you." He said, almost in a trance…a trance he quickly snapped out of, as he suddenly saw her tail heading right towards him!

He tried to run off as fast as he could, but it was too late! The tail smacked right into him, sending him flying as he sailed over the edge of a cliff that had formed from all of these tremors!

Logia was halfway unconscious from the blow as he plummeted slowly to the bottom of this great chasm, only partially aware of what had just happened as the rocks raced and raced faster past his eyes, before he finally hit the bottom with a shattering force!

Then everything went dark…

Lucia transported down to the bottom of the chasm a while later, the rain pouring as the sky was almost jet black.

"Logia!…Logia!" she called out, hoping to find some sign that the young longneck had survived all the tremors, which were much more fierce than she expected.

She then turned, and found him there, his broken young body laying on the rocks, bloodied, scarred, and not moving.

"LOGIA!" she shouted, running over to the young longneck as he layed there, placing her fingers to his neck and waiting for a moment.

"He still has a pulse…what a survivor you are!"

She scooped up his body carefully and transported away from the rocky area, while the other young longneck above was searching for his mother in the rain…

"Hang in there, Logia…" Lucia said as she carried his body to the ship and laid him out on an operating table.

"I need a bio-scan, immediately!" she told the computer, as a machine came down from above and scanned Logia's body with a blue beam.

"I'm afraid the news isn't good." The computer said to her. "Almost all his bones are shattered, he has a collapsed lung, and his spine is broken along the middle of his back…how this young creature still has a pulse is beyond even my understanding…but it's not going to last…I'm afraid death is inevitable at this point."

"No!" Lucia pounded her fist on the table. "There's got to be a way to save him!" she was determined to somehow rescue the only organic she had ever had feelings for, not coming up with any ideas before she looked over in the corner, and remembered the crate inside marked "Impactor parts"…

She ran over and got the crate, pulling it over to the table and opening it up.

"What are you doing, Lucia?" The computer asked her. "You know we don't have enough circuitry to build a new Impactor. And you don't even have permission from the high council to do it even you did have it."

"I don't care…" Lucia responded. "I'm not going to let this boy slip away from me, and if this is the only way…" she got out an impactor helmet and began making adjustments.

The computer's eye wandered towards, Logia, and back to Lucia, realizing what she was up to.

"Are you serious?" it asked her. "Are you honestly going to graft an entire impactor model over his entire body?"

"If it will keep him alive…then yes." Lucia responded.

"You'll just kill him more quickly, Lucia." It stated flatly. "You know that all other attempts at merging organics with impactor technology have all failed."

Lucia got some instruments ready as she hooked Logia up to a respirator. "There's something different about him…he was born all alone and starving, yet he survived…then he takes a fall that would kill most impactors, and he also survived that…so I have nothing but confidence in saying that he WILL survive this operation. Now hand me the scalpel, please!"

"Very well then…" the computer responded, as a mechanical arm handed her a scalpel from under the table, along with other instruments as she got to work…

"Dear Sweet Littlefoot…do you remember the way to the Great Valley?"

"I guess so…but why do I have to know, you're gonna be with me…"

"I'll be with you…even if you can't see me…"

"What do you mean, if I can't see you…I can always see you…"

"Follow your heart Littlefoot…it whispers…so listen closely…"

"Mother?…Mother?…"

The young longneck wept in the rain, mounring the loss of his mother, who had fought so bravely to protect him and Cera from the longneck, the stinging realization that she would no longer be there to care for him hitting him hard, and starting a dark time in his life.

At the same time, back on the ship, Lucia had just completed the operation, which as she predicted, was a success. The table slowly tilted up to reveal Logia's new impactor body, which was strapped down onto the table for the time being, breathing slowly through the new respirators in his armor as he slowly came to consciousness, his head turning slightly.

"Logia…can you hear me?…"

Logia turned his head to the familiar voice, as he spoke in his new computer assisted voice.

"Lucia…"

Lucia nodded as she walked to his front.

"Lucia…what happened…what did you do to me?" Logia asked, looking down at his body.

"I'm sorry, Logia…this was the only way to save you…you nearly died after that fall."

Logia grunted a bit as he remembered. "The fall…yes…I fell…" his hazy memory tried to clarify it all as a terrible thought suddenly manifested itself inside of him. "It was her…"

"Who?" Lucia asked.

"My mother…" he continued. "I saw her…I saw my brother too…" he remembered seeing the other young longneck now.

"You did?" she asked, amazed. "What happened then?"

He began to breathe heavily. "She pushed me…"

"Pushed you?

Logia nodded quickly as he breathed harder. "She knocked me off the ledge with her tail…it was as if she wouldn't even acknowledge me as her son!…"

Lucia put up her hands. "Logia, just rel-"

"She protected my brother, but she wouldn't protect me! She pushed me out, she tried to take me out of her life!"

With that he began to growl under his helmet, bringing up his arms as he began to break through his restraints with amazing strength. Lucia could only watch as Logia ripped off his leg restraints, and stepped off the table, his metal boots banging against the deck as he walked unsteadily on his new body, growling more as he looked at his hands, and then at his reflection in a sheet of reflective metal nearby.

He breathed harder and harder, before looking up at the high ceiling, and letting out a deafening cry of anguish!

"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It was heard all through the ship, as well as areas outside…

Logia stood there, now back in the present day, as he saw Lucia in the distance, explaining the whole story to General Balcus, as he looked back out the window, remembering it all.

"This was where it started…" he thought to himself. "This was where I, my old naive self, died….it was after I was taken back to the Impactor's home planet, that everything changed…"

He reminisced as he remembered his first battles, fighting with invading Aliens, and then going to other planets, fighting with his blades, shooting numerous creatures with his new gun. His armor growing more and more stained with blood.

"I didn't care anymore. Every time an organic died, it was just another notch to put on my belt…"

He reminisced more as he remembered all the accolades and awards heaped upon him for his victories, as he stood with a group of soldiers, yelling "Death to organics!" as they all cheered and carried on.

"They will pay…they will all pay for throwing me away…" he thought to himself as he came back to reality.

"I will not rest until every last organic is stricken from this universe…." He turned and looked at his reflection as he put his helmet back on.

"I must forget what I was, and embrace what I am now…I am Commander Logia…I am an IMPACTOR…"

As he walked off, Viras was standing nearby, just staring at him…


	16. An Unlikely New Threat

The next day had come to the valley, as Takumi was finishing up some final adjustments on the Photon amplifier that he had successfully used earlier to activate the new "Axcel" mode.

Ducky looked on with a big smile as she swished her tail. "You were great out there, Takumi. I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't come to save us like that."

Takumi smiled. "Well, I just thank the great creator that I was able to get the thing to work in time." He placed the amplifier into a storage case and closed the lid.

Ducky looked on as he stored the item away and got to thinking again…

"I wonder what that thing would do to me if I tried it."

Takumi sighed. "Not this, again…"

He walked over and looked right at the young Duckbill. "Look, I know you're curious about it, but this is a delicate piece of equipment we're working with. You couldn't see it, but I was having a hell of a time making sure the amplifier wasn't overheating or shorting any of my main circuits."

The Paxerian shook his head as he stood back up. "Kusaka may have been a gearhead for this stuff, but he wasn't very safety-oriented in his thinking. This amplifier sends an appalling amount of energy into the suit's photon streams. There's no telling what might happen if it's used too much."

Ducky just watched and nodded as he then looked over at the cryo-tube, with Mihara's preserved body inside. "You've been a great interim partner Ducky, and I care about you…that's why I don't want you to take too many risks with this…I don't need another Mihara on my conscience…"

At this point, Ducky stood up to protest. "You shouldn't blame yourself for Mihara, Takumi…Littlefoot told me all about it…he gave his life to save my friend. You should be proud of his sacrifice."

Takumi sighed and lowered his head. "I should have taken that deathblow, not him…"

"Then YOU would have been killed." Ducky responded, looking quite somber now. "And neither Mihara, or I, would've wanted that…"

Takumi just nodded gently as he went over and patted Ducky, smiling lightly.

Back on the ship of the Neo-Organism, Lucia and Logia looked on as General Balcus placed an object down on a table. It was a belt, just like the ones found with the Faiz and Delta gear. He also showed the phone-shaped device for the driver, which had a symbol resembling the letter Psi on the cover.

"The first new belt is complete, thanks to the information Lucia provided us from the broken Kaixa gear, as well as the material supplied by the Neo-Organism…this new system has been given the name of 'Psyga'…"

"Excellent…" Logia looked over the new Psyga gear. "This will be suitable compensation for those organics stealing the photon amplifier."

Lucia looked over the stats for the gear on a monitor. "Indeed. This new one is so strong and well-equipped, we hardly even need that piece of equipment."

Logia pondered something else as he walked up next to Balcus. "So…how do we use it?"

"Well, we can't…" Balcus started. "A belt like this requires an organic host. There was just no way it could be configured for an Impactor like myself or Lucia to use, and even you aren't completely organic. "

"Then what good has all this research and development been to us?" Logia asked.

"Now don't get all impatient, Commander…" Balcus responded. "I didn't say this was all for naught. I'm simply saying that all we need for this to work is an organic host. Someone we could get to fight for us."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Logia paced a bit. "I highly doubt that somebody is just going to come up and volunteer to fight for us."

"There might be one or two." Lucia spoke up. "I've noticed that all the herbivorous creatures live in that big beautiful valley, while the carnivorous and omnivorous creatures live out here in the more desolate sections. Surely there must be one bitter enough to want to fight against those in the valley."

"An intriguing proposition." Logia said as he walked over to Lucia now. "And how will we go about finding such an embittered organic?"

"It's funny you should mention that." Lucia said as she walked over to a monitor, calling up some data recordings. "Take a look at what our camera's picked up earlier."

Logia and General Balcus looked on to see an image of an egg-stealing dinosaur, running off with a freshly picked off egg and then eating it near the bushes. Little did they know, this egg-stealer had a history with Littlefoot and the others, for this was Ozzy, though he was curiously without his brother Strut at his side.

"Look at his face…" Lucia zoomed in on the view from the video. "He looks so bitter and angry, I can sense it in him."

Logia nodded. "Quite a remorseless creature, to take an unborn organic, and eat it out if it's eggshell. He may indeed be just what we're looking for."

"Yes, but he'll still need some persuasion most likely…" Lucia walked over and pulled out what looked like a normal egg. "I saw this a few hours before you did, and came up with my own little project…inside this hollow replicated egg, courtesy of the Neo Organism, is an addicting series of performance enhancing drugs, which I found hidden inside the Kaixa gear, and reproduced in mass quantities…Once he's consumed them, he'll see and feel all the great things happening to his body, and he'll want more…that's where we come in…."

"Ah, I see." Balcus nodded. "Get him hooked, and then give him more in exchange for his services to us…quite a novel approach, Lieutenant."

"Well, then what are we waiting for…let's hook ourselves an organic." Logia grinned under his helmet.

Meanwhile, Ozzy was walking along, lost in his thoughts. It had been years now since the untimely death of his brother. Ever since Littlefoot reunited Chomper with his parents, who then pursued the two egg-nappers. Ozzy managed to get away, but Strut wasn't so lucky…he could only watch as they snatched him up and ate him, giving little pieces for young Chomper as well.

He had refused to go back to the valley since then. Anything that reminded him of his brother, and what happened long ago made him sick to his stomach.

"We don't need anyone," he said to himself. "We're doing just fine on our own, Brother." He was holding a few leaves, with some intoxicating chemicals inside, and began to chew on them, wandering aimlessly.

"Herd wanted to kick me out because of my odd behavior…fine…" he mumbled as he chewed. "They may not want to remember you, Strut, but I still do…"

He walked on, until he saw something in the distance…a small nest, with a particularly big egg sitting in it. He looked to his left and his right, not seeing any parents, and slowly began to walk to the egg.

"I'll get them back Strut…I swear…I don't know how…but someday…they'll all be dead…all of them…" he mumbled this all under his breath in his intoxicated stupor, before the memories of what happened crossed his mind…he then dropped down, and began to dry heave some, before breathing heavily and recovering.

"I'm ok…just need some nourishment…" he told himself, as he grabbed the egg, and immediately began to bite into it.

His tongue was greeted with an odd, but sweet taste, as he found a strange greenish and sticky substance inside…he licked some off his fingers, and found the taste palatable, so he swallowed some more.

A wonderful feeling of revitalization came over him, as he felt his muscles bulging and gaining a little mass, drinking up the substance from the egg now as he felt more energy coursing through his system.

After finishing with the egg, Ozzy looked around, his senses sharper than before as well, as he took off and ran on his stronger legs, smiling widely in amazement as he reached speeds he could never reach before. He found the bank of a wide river, and jumped across it with virtually no effort.

He looked over his revitalized form, and pondered something.

"There must be a way to get more of these special eggs…but how?…"

It was then that heard a noise, and looked over to see a female impactor looking at him.

"Hello there" Lucia greeted Ozzy as he just stood there. Normally he'd run away from such a sight, but something in the egg made him curious.

"What in the world of the Mysterious Beyond are you?"

Lucia just walked closer. "My name is Lucia…and I've got a little proposition for you…"

Ozzy looked on curiously as she walked, carrying a case in her right hand.

Meanwhile, back in the valley, Littlefoot was wandering around the valley, with Ali walking next to him.

"How are you holding up?" he asked her.

Ali shrugged. "As well as I can right now, I guess."

Littlefoot looked on as he continued. "Still thinking about Doras?"

She nodded some. "Yes…it's very hard not to…so many times I've gotten close to him, one time I even blew him to pieces…but he's still alive." She narrowed her eyes a bit. "He's got to have a weak spot, somewhere…"

Littlefoot sighed a bit. "Ali, for the past few days, you've done nothing but talk about Doras…how much longer are you going to obsess over this?"

Ali gave him a stern look. "Littlefoot, he attacked my herd, and almost killed my mother! Do you want me to just forget about what he did? Are you nuts?"

"No, I'm not telling you to forget about it…" Littlefoot responded. "All I'm saying is…it's not the only way."

Ali tilted her head. "Huh?"

Littlefoot shook his head as he clarified himself. "Ali, you should know better than anyone that I can sympathize with you during this time. Kusaka killed my Grandmother, remember…and at that time, I wanted vengeance just as much as you do now…"

Ali gave him a questioning look. "Then why didn't you take it? Why didn't you kill Kusaka when you clearly had the chance to?"

Littlefoot looked out to the distance. "Because it didn't feel right…I realized at the time that this guy was just a hollow, pathetic shell of a creature, who needed to hate and kill to feel some semblance of worth in his life, and wanted to die honorably. I realized that if I gave in to my own hatred, and killed him for having wronged me, I would not only have given him what he wanted, but I would have made myself just as bad as him…and I don't want to end up like that…"

Ali sighed a bit. "So you're basically saying that I shouldn't kill Doras?"

Littlefoot looked to her. "That's up to you. We all have our own choices to make…the point I'm trying to make is that revenge is never the one and only option at a time like this…you can fight Doras, and kill him if you want, but just remember, there are others ways in which we can right wrongs done to us…you don't always have to resort to killing."

"I see your point." Ali nodded as she looked out to the mountain walls of the valley.

"In the meantime, you should start thinking about other things…like what you're going to do when this whole thing is finally resolved." Littlefoot continued.

Ali looked over at him again. "What do you mean?…I've already decided that I'm gonna rejoin my herd when I've got Doras out of the way."

Littlefoot lowered his head a bit. "Oh…"

Ali furrowed her brow. "What's wrong?"

Littlefoot looked up with a slight blush. "Well…once the valley IS finally safe…well…I was wondering…would you…would you like to…"

Ali listened intently until something went off in their heads, immediately drawing their attention.

"There's something in here!" Ali interrupted Littlefoot, as he simply nodded and ran off with her.

There was indeed something in the distance, as Viras had appeared with Lucia, who had just released another squad of giga-fighters to combat with Shorty In his Gillis outfit, Cera in her Blade suit, along with Slick dressed as Garren, and Rock as Leangle, their hands full as they fought to keep their enemies at bay.

Ducky and Takumi had also recently arrived, as Littlefoot and Ali quickly transformed into Agito and Chalice respectively, Agito taking out his sword and shifting to his red armored form, as Chalice took down a few fighters with her bow, with Agito leaping in and slicing one virtually in half with the sharp weapon.

Ducky quickly picked up the Delta gear, slapping it around her waist as Takumi did the same with the Faiz gear. She held the driver, typed in 333…

STANDING BY…

She then yelled "Henshin" into the microphone and slipped it into the side of the gear as "COMPLETE" was heard, transforming into Delta again as Takumi also Pressed 555, hearing the familiar "STANDING BY…" as he raised the driver up and yelled "Henshin!", sliding it into his belt as "COMPLETE" was heard again, shifting into Faiz.

The two looked at the battle going on, with all the giga-fighters around, as Faiz looked to Delta.

"We're gonna need some extra weaponry to take care of a force this size…" Faiz stated. "You may not be ready for the amplifier, but I think you're ready to have this…"

He handed Delta a device that looked like a digital watch.

"Put it on your wrist…"

Delta complied as she looked at Faiz "What does it do?"

Faiz explained the details to her as Leangle rushed in and swung his staff, knocking a few giga fighters back as Garren blasted a few away with great accuracy using his gun, using his stealth mode at times to confuse the robots.

Chalice backed up Blade as she ran in and fired off a few energy arrows, hitting all the giga fighters behind Blade as she nodded to Chalice in thanks and turned, charging energy in her arm and sending it to her sword as she brought it around and sliced a giga-fighter, taking its head clean off as she turned and sliced off the feet of another.

Lucia lunged at Agito, who withdrew his staff and once again shifted into Trinity form, swiping his sword and staff at her as she dodged and blocked with her crescent shaped, two-handed blade.

This left Gillis with Viras, as he roared and punched wildly at the creature, only to have his fist caught in one of her strong hands as she growled and threw him off to the side. He then roared again and let one of his tendrils loose, as it wrapped around her tightly. She reacted by grabbing the tendril close to his arm, and hoisted him into the air, slamming him down on her other side of the ground as he grunted and let go with the tendril.

"Shorty!" Agito shouted as he kicked Lucia away and ran towards Viras, who was about use one of her weapons to kill the dazed form of Gillis. He immediately threw her off guard with a well placed sword slash across the arm, making it fall off as green blood spurted from the wound.

Viras roared out in pain as this occurred, but soon regained her composure, and held out the stump, as she displayed the same regenerating ability that Doras had, growing a new arm as she growled and advanced on Agito, slashing at him with her claws as he dodged and took a few more swipes at her.

She was ready for him now, as she fired a few shoulder lasers from her body, knocking the wind out of him as they hit, as Gillis got back up and tried to help, only to get a strong backhand from Viras as he fell to the ground again.

Viras reached down and grabbed Agito by the neck, slowly lifting him up and growling as she got a good look at him…he could feel her grip getting tighter and tighter, as she prepared to either choke him or break his neck, with all of his allies too swamped to help him…

But then, something weird happened…

Viras slowly began to loosen her grip; just enough to the point where Agito fell back to the ground and coughed a bit.

She just stood there for that time, looking down at the young warrior, tilting her head a bit as if she was not completely sure about something.

"What are you waiting for?" a frustrated Lucia shouted to the creature. "Kill him! Take the suit back!"

But Viras did not respond. She simply stood there, looking at Agito as a befuddled Gillis looked on, wondering what to do now…

"Viras…" The voice of the Neo-Organism echoed in her head. "What is the matter?…are you having some sort of malfunction…" his voice suddenly began to break up in her head. "Viras…Viras…"

At this point, Lucia began to walk towards Littlefoot with her blade at the ready. "I should have known one of the Neo-Organism's goons would fail once more…if you won't finish the job, then I will…" She walked to the hurt Agito, and raised her blade.

Suddenly, Viras fired another Laser, hitting Lucia Square in the chest!

Lucia screamed in pain as she fell back, and Viras turned, changing into her orb form and shooting off into the distance, escaping!

"Damn it all!" Lucia yelled as she got onto her feet again, and took off after the creature, leaving everyone to deal with the Giga-fighters.

Things were still uncertain in this fight, until Faiz joined in the fight with his sword, and Delta walked in slowly with the device on her wrist.

"Let's hope I can handle this thing…" she told herself, as she pressed a button on the watch.

COMPLETE…

Her form changed, as her chest plates moved up a bit to reveal the energy processor in the middle of the suit, charging up with a burst of energy as she pressed another button on the watch.

START UP…

She got ready to run, and took off, as she suddenly disappeared to everyone's sight, running at an incredible rate of speed…

Suddenly, everyone saw giga fighters being nailed and thrown everywhere by an unseen force, as laser blasts from Delta's gun began to shoot out from seemingly nowhere. At one point, a huge circle of laser blasts erupted from the sky, crashing into every last fighter as they lay in ruins, and the voice could be heard again…

3….2…1…

Delta materialized again, holding her gun as she was in her normal form again

TIME OUT…

Everyone ran over to Delta as she stood looking at them, breathing heavily from the experience under her helmet.

"Ducky, that was incredible!" Blade yelled, hugging Delta and jumping for joy a bit.

"Thanks Cera!" Delta giggled as she hopped a bit with her.

"How on earth did you do that?" Garren asked.

"With this" Delta showed them the new device on her wrist.

Agito took a look at it, his mind too occupied to think about what happened with Viras at the moment. "What is it?"

"I can answer that for you." Faiz answered as he stepped up. "That is the device used to go into Hypermode."

"Hypermode?" Chalice tilted her head some.

Faiz nodded "For 30 seconds with that device, anyone with a belt like hers can move at an vast amount of speed." He looked to Delta "But it's only good for one use after the transformation, so you have to be really careful with it."

Delta nodded as the group suddenly heard a far off noise…slow and steady footsteps coming close to them.

They all turned to see the form of a familiar egg-stealer.

Agito recognized him immediately. "Ozzy!"

Ozzy nodded a bit. "Glad to see you haven't forgotten me, leaf-eater."

Agito looked to himself and then to Ozzy. "You recognize me in this?"

"Of course…Lucia's told me all about you…all of you…" Ozzy nodded as he looks around. "Granted, I wasn't too enthusiastic about whatever plans she had for those suits you're wearing, but she was quite pleased to hear about my grudge against you all, for the death of my brother mostly."

Blade shook her head "Look pal…you're the one who dragged your brother into that whole mess…you should be blaming yourself for that, not us…"

Ozzy chuckled a bit. "Cute…trying to guilt trip me, are you?…Well I'm through feeling guilty, and I'm through being weak…I'm going to confront my demons and slay them right here, and Lucia's given me just the thing to do it with…"

He pointed down to his waist, as the group saw a belt around it…Faiz immediately recognized the basic design.

"Another belt?…"

Ozzy grinned as he followed Lucia's instructions, flipping open the phone-like device and punching in the code: 315, before hitting the enter key…

STANDING BY…

He closed the device, slowly moving it to his middle and saying "Henshin…" before sliding it down into the buckle area.

COMPLETE

Everyone watched as blue photon streams wrapped around his body, giving him a humanoid shape as he was soon covered in white armor, with a purple center making the Psi symbol, and a purple visor, as he finished changing into the form of Psyga!

Agito got ready to fight along with the others, as Psyga slowly reached out with his right arm.

"Let the games begin…"

Everyone charged down as he simply stood in his spot, staring at them…


	17. Saved by a monster

The group of warriors advanced on Ozzy, now the new "Psyga" as he stood there, awaiting their arrival with an amazing calmness.

Gillis, always being the most eager to fight, struck first, delivering a jump kick, which Psyga immediately ducked under, before grabbing his leg and throwing him off, sending him crashing into a tree!

Blade came in next, swinging her sword up, down, any way she could, as Psyga avoided the swings and reached into his belt, pulling out two tong-fa with sharp blades on the undersides, using one to parry Blade's sword away as he slashed with the other, sending sparks from her suit as she grunted and got kicked aside.

Agito, in his red form, and Chalice attacked together, keeping Psyga at bay with their sword and bow respectively, as Delta and Garren tried to shoot him from both sides with their blasters. But as they let loose their blasts, he promptly deflected them from his weapons, making them head towards Agito as he instinctively blocked with his sword, which then bounced right back to Delta and Garren, hitting them both as they yelled out and fell to the ground!

"No!" Agito yelled in shock, as Pysga then took advantage of the distraction, and pulled out a blaster of his own, shooting him square in the chestplate as he grunted and fell to his back with the wind knocked out of him!

"Littlefoot!" Chalice yelled, as she let loose a barrage of energy arrows, which Psyga once again deflected with his bladed batons, sending them back to Chalice. Chalice ducked and avoided each one, being quite nimble herself, and leapt in to slash at him with the bladed sections of her bow, clashing with his baton.

The two fighters looked at each other up close as they clashed blades, one trying to gain prominence over the other, until something suddenly swung up from under them, knocking away both of their weapons as the object smashed Psyga right in the helmet…it was Leangle's staff!

Leangle looked over to Chalice. "You ok?"

Chalice nodded, not seeing that Pysga had pulled out his blaster again, and shot Leangle while he was distracted! Leangle shouted in pain and shock as he fell back into Chalice's arms, and they both fell.

"Oh, she's just fine…" Psyga answered. "Which is more than what I can say for you, foolish Three-horn!"

He readied his gun for a fatal shot before another blast smacked him right in the side! Psyga looked up, and saw Faiz, in his Axcel mode, flying over him with his jet pack as he readied his blaster for another shot.

"Hm…interesting new toys you have, Paxerian…" Psyga remarked, as he flipped open his driver…"Here, let me show you some of mine…" he then pressed in the code: 8435, then ENTER, as the voice called out "AERO MODE".

He held out his hands as an impressive jetpack materialized on his back, with hand controls at his front, which carried guns underneath each handle. He gripped them both, and with the push of a button, he fired up the jets, and went soaring up to meet Faiz in aerial combat!

Faiz cocked his gun. "I don't know exactly who you are, or what your problem with anyone is, but it's clear that someone like you shouldn't wearing something so powerful…now why don't you be a good dinosaur, and take that gear off right now, so I won't have to inflict physical harm on you…"

Psyga scoffed a bit. "It's a bit unwise to make threats towards enemies you hardly even know, don't you think?…"

Faiz shot at him from where he was floating, only to have Psyga expertly dodge the deadly laser, before gripping the triggers on his handles and firing the rapid guns beneath them as he swerved back to meet Faiz. Faiz dodged the rapid shots as best he could, getting clipped a few times before trying to aim his gun. But Psyga quickly took advantage of the dodging, and flew right behind him, putting a strong arm around his neck and holding him in mid-air.

Faiz struggled as the arm was hooked tightly around him.

"You've been a thorn in Lucia's side for too long, Paxerian…" Psyga spoke. "And I can't afford to have you alive to teach those stinking children down there any new tricks against me…So it looks like this is the end of the road for you…"

Faiz grunted and tried to reach for his blaster, but Psyga's grip was much too strong. He placed his free hand around the left side of Faiz's head, getting ready to snap his neck right there…

Then something hit him…hard!

Delta was standing right below the two of them as they struggled, and had just delivered a devastating blast from her gun to the crotch section of Psyga's armor!

"Eyyyyaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" Psyga yelled as he let go of Faiz and fell to the ground, moaning and rolling as Delta slowly walked to him with her gun aimed right at his head, as Garren walked behind her with his gun at the ready as well.

"I'd stay perfectly still now, if I were you…" Delta spoke as she cocked her gun.

The others slowly walked to the Downed Psyga as well, as Faiz flew back down to the ground, and changed back into his normal mode.

Things looked to be all over for the egg-stealer turned warrior, before Lucia suddenly came from out of nowhere, knocking the gun out of Delta's hand, and snatching Psyga before anyone else could react, teleporting away with him!

As the group of warriors recuperated from their fight, Lucia landed with Psyga well outside of the valley, shaking her head.

"You have the ability, Ozzy…but you're too careless."

Psyga sighed and withdrew his driver, hitting the cancel button and changing back to Ozzy. "Look…it was my first time using this thing, and I had no idea that one of those leaf eaters were going to fight dirty like that…"

Lucia looked him right in the eye. "That's all part of being a good fighter…you need to be prepared for anything, ANYTHING your opposition may try to do…I know, you've been a schemer all your life, using your head and strategizing to get the eggs you crave so much, but you're in a different world now as a fighter. Rational thought often has no place in a battle."

Ozzy nodded softly before he thought of something. "Hey…what about that Viras creature that took off on you…did you recapture the thing?"

Lucia shook her head. "No, unfortunately…Doras has taken over my searching duties for now…it's strange, because the Neo-Organism implanted a tracking device in her, just like Doras…but it seems to have suddenly stopped working, just like the communication link that broke down when it fled.

Ozzy nodded a bit and looked to her quizzically"Do you want me to go searching with him?"

Lucia shook her head slowly. "Not yet…at least not right now…we need your power to focus on taking those suits for us…as soon as you've fully recovered, I want you to go back and do whatever it takes to eliminate our enemies…is that understood?"

"Yes…" Ozzy responded softly.

"Good…then I'll go check on Logia, and aid in the search for Viras." She then turned and changed into a ball of light, teleporting away from the scene.

Meanwhile, everyone was recovering from their last fight back in the valley, as Takumi smiled and approached Ducky, who had just changed out of her Delta gear.

"Hey…thanks a lot for the assist, Ducky."

Ducky smiled and swished her tail some "You're welcome, hehe…You know, I never thought I'd have it in me to attack a male like that."

Cera grinned as she listened in on this, approaching Ducky out of her suit as well. "Well, I was proud of you at least, Ducky. Even we females have to be tough sometimes, and I was so happy to find out that I didn't have to be the tough one this time."

Ducky immediately beamed "Thanks Cera."

As this was going on, Littlefoot was sitting on the ground, lost in thought. He finally had some time to think about what had happened earlier, involving Lucia and Viras.

Shorty slowly approached him. "What are you thinking about?"

Littlefoot sighed a bit as he tried to think hard about this. "Well…it's about what happened to that Viras creature there…she had me…I mean, she could have killed me right there, she had my neck in her claws…and she hesitated…no, she didn't just hesitate…she protected me!"

"Protected you?" Shorty titled his head questioningly

Littlefoot nodded in response."Yeah…Lucia was about to kill me after she hesitated, and then she attacked Lucia when she was about to strike."

"That's odd…why would a creature made by the Neo-Organism want to protect you?" Rock enquired, out of his Leangle suit as he approached the two longnecks.

Takumi overheard this conversation as well, as he walked slowly over to the group, and attempted to give them some answers.

"Well…I don't know too much about the Neo-Organism, but I've compiled some data recently from the remains of the grasshopper, and I learned some interesting things about how it creates creatures like Doras and Viras."

Littefoot looked to him quizzically. "Such as?"

"The Neo-Organism can't simply create these things out of thin air." Takumi continued. " It needs all the proper data on certain species that it can get before commencing with any creating. And I know that the professor kept data on creatures much like the ones we've been fighting, and that includes Doras, who seems to be an amalgam of many different vicious creatures found all over the universe."

Shorty gave Takumi an odd look as Littlefoot and the others gathered around and listened. "So Viras was created in the same way?"

Takumi nodded, before directly addressing Littlefoot. "Yes…and I got an idea from this…didn't you notice that she looks just slightly like one of your own kind here on Earth."

Littlefoot's eyes went wide as he thought this over. "I never really thought of that until you brought it up…but yeah…she kinda does…"

Takumi looked to him seriously. "I think maybe the Neo-Organism got something, maybe a few bones from around here, and used the data from them to help create Viras."

Littlefoot nodded, but then just looked confused once more. "But again, what does that have to do with her hesitating to kill me. I doubt a creature created by the Neo-Organism, even one made from my own kind, would have any hesitations about killing me, unless…she…knew me…somehow…"

His eyes widened more, as if the most horrible thought in the world had just crossed his mind. Ali looked over and nudged him some. "What, what is it Littlefoot?"

The young longneck looked slowly up at the Paxerian. "Takumi…is it possible for something created by this Neo-Organism to possibly regain its memories of what it was?"

Takumi just shrugged. "There's not a lot of info to support that theory, but you never know…Why? What are you thinking?"

Littlefoot just sat there for the longest time, breathing very shallowly. "No…it can't be…there has to be another explanation…there has to be…" He quickly got up and began to walk off.

"Where are you going?" Slick asked as he stood next to Ducky

"I'm going off to get some more answers…I'm gonna try to find Viras."

Shorty quickly got up and took off after him. "Alone? I think not!"

"I'm coming too, Littlefoot." Ali said as she also rose and walked over to join Littlefoot and Shorty.

"Hey, what about the rest of us?" Rock asked as he looked over to Cera.

Cera shook her head. "We should stay behind and let them go. We don't want to leave this place unguarded, especially with Ozzy bugging us now."

Rock just nodded and looked on as Littlefoot quickly changed into Agito, in his default black and gold form, while Shorty transformed into Gillis, and Ali became Chalice. The trio then summoned all of their vehicles, and went off in search of the creature.

As this was going on, Viras was running from place to place, trying to find some place to hide out, knowing that Doras was after her as she ran down some steep hills, and up the rocks on some mountains.

She was about to leave one dense forest in particular, as Doras suddenly jumped down, waiting on a nearby tree as the two wrestled down a hill, Doras growling and slashing at her with his claws, as she also growled and snapped at him with her jaws, catching on his arm at one point as he roared and knocked her off, green blood spurting from the wound as she quickly took off again, as he quickly healed and went after her.

Meanwhile, on the Neo-Organism's ship, Logia stood next to General Balcus as he held the other created belt in his hands. It was black and gold, with a red omega symbol on the center of the driver.

"So, this one is called 'Orga?'" Logia enquired.

"That is correct." The Neo Organism appeared and answered for Balcus in the center of the room. "Using my experience from building Psyga, I was able to utilize the data found in the broken Kaixa gear better, and come up with a system that's superior to even Psyga's in sheer power."

Balcus nodded gently "It's the ultimate belt, if I may say so…all we need for it, is a host."

Logia nodded as he paced around the room some. "Yes…we already have a host for Psyga in that Ozzy fellow…but I doubt he'd be able to handle a suit that's even more powerful than that. Especially considering that he let himself be defeated in such a foolish manner."

Balcus looked to the commander. "Then whom shall we look to for a suitable host? I doubt you're going to convince that Takumi fellow to switch sides, and his partner is dead."

"Fret not, General." Logia began to walk off. "I'll think of something, you'll see…"

Balcus simply nodded as he placed the belt back on the table.

"Commander…" The voice of the Neo Organism could be heard on the speakers as Logia walked along the hallways of the ship. "…You've known ever since you came here that I could do something for you, correct…something for your body?"

Logia froze for a moment, but then lightly nodded, seeing no further point in hiding this. "Yes…I always had an inkling that you could, after seeing what you did with Viras especially."

"Then why haven't you requested anything of me? I could easily use the remaining organic material on your body to regenerate all of your organic components, and shape them in any way you want…I could give you organic fingers even, so you could use Orga…"

Logia kept walking as he thought this over. "It's an intriguing proposition…but I just can't do it…I can't go back to the way I was before."

"Why?" The Neo Organism asked. "This metallic body is clearly an unreasonable burden for you, deep inside."

"I'd rather have this 'unreasonable burden', than to have to go back to my old self. My old naive self, who foolishly tried to save two others like myself, who thought that his own mother would readily accept him back into her life…" Logia shook his head. "No…that little boy is dead. He died when he hit those hard rocks and broke his body, and for the first time learned how cruel the organic world is…I am an impactor…I always have been, and will continue to be…and no promise of an even greater power, like this Orga belt, is going to sway me back into the organic world…understand?"

"Very well…" The Neo Organism answered, as his voice faded from the speakers, leaving Logia alone as he walked to the exit of the ship.

Agito, Gillis, and Chalice were now all riding along on their vehicles quickly through the mysterious beyond, following any tracks they could find. The scanner on Takumi's ship had given them a head start, but now it was completely up to them to locate Viras.

"She's quick…" Gillis said as he stopped his bike for a moment to look at some more tracks. "She's really quick…if only we could teleport like those impactors."

Chalice sat next to him on her bike. "Well, we can't just give up at this point. She's quick, yes, but there's always a way to track creatures like this one."

Gillis looked over at Agito, who was in front of them both on his bike. "What do you think, Littlefoot?…you've hardly said a thing since we left the valley. You've gotta have some idea."

Chalice nodded. "Yeah. Why don't you share some of your thoughts with us?"

Agito sighed. "There's not much to share really…just a thought…it's…it's…" he grunted a bit and gripped the handles of his bike. "It's a stupid thought, really…"

"What? What is it?" Chalice enquired.

"Yeah, I wanna hear it, anyway." Gillis nodded.

Agito nodded softly, knowing that staying quiet at this point would irritate them further. "Ok…I said in the valley earlier that something like Viras would have no reason to ever want to protect me, unless it knew me somehow, right? Well, I thought…what if…"

"What?" Chalice asked, encouraging him.

"What if…Viras…is my mother?…"

Gillis scoffed almost immediately. "What?…that's impossible. How could they do that?"

Agito looked right at Gillis "Takumi said that they probably created her from the remains of a dead dinosaur. Plus, remember she looks a lot like one of our own kind…who's to say it wasn't her remains they found?"

Chalice shook her head. "But…but that doesn't make sense…even if she was created from your mother's remains, how would she be able to remember anything about who she was, or who you are? I mean, all that would be left of you mother would have been the bones at this point."

Agito looked down and sighed. "I don't know…but the fact of the matter is this…I'm alive now. If that were Doras, or any other monster that had my neck in its claw, they would have broken it without any hesitation, and I'd be dead now…but she didn't do that…she saved me…and that's enough to make me believe it."

Gillis just nodded, understanding now, and not really needing to say anything else, as Chalice just went over and patted him on the back softly. "We'll find her Littlefoot…and we'll know for sure about this after we do…"

"Not if Doras finds her first!" a voice suddenly called out, as the three warriors suddenly turned to see General Balcus suddenly appear near them, his sword and shield at the ready. "And I'm here to ensure that he does!"

Gillis immediately got up. "Littlefoot! Ali, go off and find her yourselves! I'll take care of this guy!"

"But Shorty…" Chalice protested, not wanting to leave Gillis alone.

"Just go!" Gillis yelled, as Balcus sent out two laser blasts with his shield, which Gillis leapt in front of and deflected with the tendrils that shot from his wrists. Agito nodded to Chalice as both warriors took off on their bikes quickly.

Gillis roared as he ran in and withdrew his claws now, dodging the swings from Balcus' sword as he slashed wildly, putting a few cuts in the impactor's armor as he grunted and lunged at him with his sword.

"Quite a rage you use as a weapon, earth creature…" Balcus commented. "I hope for your sake it's not merely a blind rage…"

Gillis simply grunted in response, jumping away and kicking Balcus in the face as he landed on a tree branch nearby. Balcus charged to the tree, slicing through the branch as Gillis jumped off and landed back on the ground. Balcus quickly turned, ready to strike once more, before he suddenly tripped on the same branch he had just cut down, falling on his front.

"Looks like I'm no more blind than you are, Impactor." Gillis responded, as Balcus growled and picked himself up.

"I warn you, young one. The last time someone like you dared to mock me, it took his comrades weeks to find all of his remains!"

He then charged towards Gillis once more, as the two clashed blades.

As this was going on, Agito and Chalice were driving fast along an open meadow, hoping that Gillis would be able to handle Balcus all by himself.

Chalice then looked up and saw something in the distance, flying across the sky.

"Littlefoot…I think I found her!" she shouted to him as they drove.

"Really?" Agito shouted back.

"Yeah…but she's not alone either…" she pointed up and saw the other form following her. "I think that's Doras after her right now!"

"Well what are we going to do then?" Agito responded. "We can't fly in these things!"

Chalice whipped out her bow, and aimed it. "Just give me time for a clear shot!"

Agito wasn't sure how'd she be able to hit Doras from this distance, but he kept silent, and nodded as he looked out in front and back of him in the meadow, making sure everything around them was clear.

Chalice simply drove with one hand on the bike, her other hand holding up the bow as she kept her finger loose on the trigger, her sharp eyesight trained on the flying spherical form of Doras as he pursued Viras…

"Got ya!" She suddenly shouted, as she let a barrage of energy arrows loose from her bow, which traveled far into the sky, and landed a series of direct hits on Doras!

Doras howled out in pain at the sudden attack, immediately heading down to where the two warriors were traveling.

"I think we got his Attention!" Agito shouted, almost cheering, as Chalice nodded and stopped her bike along with his.

Doras landed and materialized near the two, growling angrily and letting loose a series of shoulder laser blasts, as Chalice shot at him with her bow some more. He deflected some of the arrows as Agito switched to his blue-armored form, taking out his double bladed staff as he swung it at the creature, causing him to growl some more and swipe at him with his claws.

Back in the other section of the mysterious beyond, General Balcus was still swinging his sword at Gillis, trying over and over to cut down the young warrior as he growled and let loose with a flurry of punches and kicks and slashes from his blades.

Gillis finally let out a roar as the blades appeared on his heels. "Now to finish this!" He leapt high into the air as he brought his leg high up over him, getting ready to jam it into Balcus' shoulder.

Balcus was ready though, as he caught Gillis' leg as he tried to bring it down.

Gillis landed on his other foot, as he struggled to bring the blade down.

Balcus laughed a bit as he held onto the bladed foot. "I never take on a nemesis without studying his favorite moves in battle!"

"Oh really?" Gillis managed to grunt. "Ever learned this one!"

He then suddenly put his other foot on Balcus' chest, springing off of him and somersaulting with one of his wrist claws expanded. Before Balcus could respond to this quick move, Gillis came down and brought the blade down through his helmet, slashing off the right side of his "face"!

Sparks flew as Balcus roared out in pain, covering his face with the shield as the circuitry underneath was exposed, now blind in that section as he held out his sword.

"Don't think you've won, organic!…once I have my vision fixed, I'll come back and do things to you that will make dying seem like paradise!"

With that he turned and teleported away as Gillis growled and looked on.

Back around the meadow, Doras swung his claws some more, as Agito blocked with his staff, and Chalice shot at him some more, but it didn't seem to be fazing him much.

"Everything can't be protected…" she said to herself. "There has to be a weak spot…some kind of power source somewhere…"

As she was thinking this, Agito was still struggling to try and take down this heinous creature, slashing his staff a few more times, until he finally felt his energy had built up enough. He jumped back and held out his arms, concentrating his power and shouting out as flames began to appear on his body.

Chalice and Doras both looked on as Agito assumed his Burning form once more, his muscles bulging and red, as he quickly got out his new staff-like weapon, swinging it as he charged in to take on Doras once more.

He got some unexpected help however, as another flurry of laser blasts came in from out of nowhere, knocking Doras off to the side…it was Viras!

Both warriors gasped as Viras roared and came at Doras with a full on attack, grappling with him as Agito ran in and slashed at him.

Viras then looked to Chalice, and managed to get a good hold of Doras, showing a part of the side of his chest as she began to dig into his flesh, making him growl in pain as she pulled up the skin to reveal a glowing red device underneath.

"There it is!" Chalice shouted, as she readied her bow, only to have Doras knock Viras away, and shoot more shoulder lasers at Chalice, who ducked and rolled out of the way, as Agito clashed with him more, hitting him with a series of kicks.

But Chalice still had a shot, as she saw the wound from where Viras had ripped open his flesh. She promptly aimed her bow…

"For the herd!"

As she said this, she let an energy arrow fly, which then hit the exact spot she was aiming for on the distracted Doras! He roared out in immense pain as his body sparked, the power leaving his body as he stumbled, no longer able to fire lasers or regrow limbs.

"Doras!…retreat…right this instant!…Doras!" the voice of the Neo-Organism echoed in the creature's head, but he was far too weak to respond properly, flailing around at everyone as Chalice hit him with a few more arrows, causing green blood to come gushing out as he screamed ferociously.

"He's all yours!" she called to Agito, as he nodded and broke the staff of his burning form into two blades, raising them crossed over his head as they were engulfed in flames, and bringing them down along Doras' form, slicing off both of his arms!

"DORAS!" The Neo Organism shouted, as Agito came up with both swords, and slashed them again, decapitating the creature, and disabling him for good as the rest of the torso simply fell to the ground.

Chalice walked over to the creature's head, it's mandibles still moving some, as she yelled out, and stomped on it, breaking it into pieces!

As the two recovered, Agito looked over and saw Viras simply standing there. She growled just a bit, and simply nodded to him.

"Who are you?" Agito asked as he slowly walked to the creature. "Why are you protecting me?…Am I right about what I'm thinking?…are you my m-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Viras suddenly pushed him away, and he fell onto his back. He looked up and realized that this wasn't a malicious attack, as a blaster shot, courtesy of Commander Logia, just barely missed him!

Logia landed near Agito, and was about to let him have it with another shot, as Chalice ran in and kicked him, trying to fight him off, before he simply gave her a hard punch across the helmet, and kicked her aside.

"I've been waiting for you to appear without the protection of your allies once more!" Logia shouted as he readied his gun. "Let's see you get out of this situation!"

Agito gripped his blades, trying to think of something, before Viras suddenly grabbed him from behind, restraining him.

"What is this?" Logia grunted, as Agito got back onto his feet and kicked Logia in the chest, as Viras threw him off.

"I'll kill you both!" Logia yelled as he withdrew one of the blades from his wrist, running to Agito with his gun at the ready!

"Come and try it, Logia!" Agito shouted, running towards Logia as the two prepared to clash once more. But just as they were about to make contact, something suddenly came between them!

Viras had suddenly jumped in between the two, and held out her claws, keeping the two warriors apart from one another as she pushed at them both. She growled loudly to both of them, as if she did not want to see them fighting.

"Don't get in my way, creature!" Logia yelled, as he brought up his blade and slashed Viras right across the face! Viras howled in pain as yellowish blood shot out from the wound, while Logia readied his gun for a killing shot!

Agito then ran in, grappling with Logia.

"Don't you hurt her!" Agito shouted.

Logia was dumbfounded "What do you care about this creature? It's just another Neo-Organism created flunkie!"

"She's my MOTHER!" Agito shot back.

"WHAT?" Logia yelled, as Agito took advantage of this distraction, and punched him hard, sending him flying and rolling onto the ground!

"Mother…mother?…" Logia said to himself, eyeing Viras as this realization dawned on him. The rage began to build in him slowly as he breathed unevenly, and the bad memories of his past all came rushing back at once, his hatching alone, and his near death experience

"aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in frustration, as he suddenly ran towards Viras, and let out another blast from his gun!

It was a quick shot, almost guaranteed to hit Viras, before Agito suddenly jumped out in front of her, and absorbed the full force of the blow! It knocked him back as he landed hard, and could now only look up groggily…

"DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" Logia roared, as he readied his blaster for another shot at Viras. But before he could get it off, something hit him HARD in the helmet. It was an energy arrow, sent out by Chalice, who took advantage of his blind rage!

The arrow hit Logia so hard, that his helmet flew off, exposing his scarred face! Chalice gasped and looked on, wide eyed under her helmet as Agito looked up for a moment weakly, and saw the face too.

"What…" he exclaimed, softly. "What…is going on…" He tried to get up, before he started to feel faint. The blast was a powerful one, breaking into his armor as some blood was coming out.

Logia got up and picked up his helmet, before Lucia came in from out of nowhere, as Chalice simply watched, too shocked to move.

"Where have you been?" Logia growled.

"I'm sorry…" Lucia responded. "I would have helped you sooner, but General Balcus came back to the ship wounded. I had to help him out first…come on, let's get out of here!"

Logia nodded a bit, his face still burning some from the arrow hurting him…he slipped his mask back on as he looked to his enemies. "I'll be back, mark my words…and when I come…may the creator be with you all!" with that, he teleported away with Lucia.

All Chalice could do was watch as Viras growled softly, gently scooping up Agito, who was unconscious now, and flying away, carrying him.

As this happened, Gillis came running up next to her. "Ali!…Ali!…What's going on?" He looked up and saw the two leaving, an alarmed look coming over his face under his helmet. "What's Viras doing with Littlefoot?"

"I don't know…" She responded. "Logia shot him…I think she wants to take care of him…"

"Take care of him?" Gillis tilted his head.

Chalice nodded. "Yes…Shorty, I think Littlefoot was right about her…"

Gillis just looked at her, before looking up at the sky with her, completely silent…

Where is Viras taking Littlefoot?

Will Ozzy prove himself worthy of being Psyga?

Who will end up using the Orga gear?

Stay tuned.


	18. Revelations

"As soon as I get my hands on that little organic, he'll wish he never pushed himself out of that egg of his." General Balcus growled, as Lucia continued the repairs on the right side of his face.

"For now, you need to hold still." She simply responded, sealing up the remaining cracks. "You'll have a hard time getting your revenge if I can't fix this correctly, and you go into your next battle cock-eyed." Logia simply nodded in agreement as he watched her work.

"This has been a most disappointing day…" The Neo Organism said in an almost mournful tone, floating above the screen again. "Doras destroyed, and Viras in rebellion against me." He looked to the three Impactors and shook his head. "I give you my assistance, I give you my creations, and I even help to create two new belts for you, in the hopes that you'd be able to retrieve the suits for me…and what do you have to show for it?…hm?"

"Well, maybe if you're creations weren't so defective…" Logia calmly spoke up. "…we'd have received better assistance, and might have been able to defeat enemies, that frankly, need an entire battalion of Impactors to take down…we trusted you, because we thought we could do this without having to divert so many of our forces from the home world…in my view, it is you that failed to live up to your end of the partnership."

The Neo Organism gave him a stern look. "You dare to call my methods and abilities into question?"

"What are you going to do about it?" Logia shot back. "You no longer have either of your abominations to push us around. The way I see it, we can do anything we want with you now…" He walked over to one of the consoles in the room.

"What are you doing, Commander?" The Neo Organism asked, as Logia began to press some of the buttons.

"What are you doing?" He now shouted!

"I don't work with a computer without learning some of the nuances of the system first…" Logia spoke as he typed. "I'm going to access your primary intelligence network, and simply delete most of the memory files in there."

The Neo-Organism was livid. "No! You'll disrupt the awareness I've achieved! You'll turn me into a vegetable!"

Logia nodded. "Mm-hm…that's the idea…"

Lucia quickly came over. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"We got we needed from this thing…" Logia responded as he typed. "And he's got no other creatures that we'd have to waste our energy on…"

"You are making a very rash decision commander!" The Neo-Organism shouted. "Without me, you won't make any progress in obtaining those suits!"

Logia looked back as he pressed some more buttons. "On the contrary…we'll make much more progress doing this ourselves, than standing around, waiting for some computer to give us orders."

"Idiotic commander!…you're taking the power away from a unique being!…One that has never existed before!…" The Neo-Organism began to get desperate."…One with the power to research and restore your lost organic components!…"

Logia stopped right there at the terminal, before turning and facing the living computer in the center screen…he walked slowly to the Neo Organsim and looked the green screen image right in the eyes…

"What in the world would possibly make you think I would want to give this life up?…" He sneered under his helmet and walked back to the terminal, Lucia looking on as she wanted to interject, but knew deep down that his mind was made up, and wouldn't go back…he was one tenacious creature.

"You…you foolish half-breed!" The Neo-organism shouted.

"Name-call all you want…"Logia typed away. "It's not going to save you now…"

The Creature on the computer screen looked on at Logia, and the others, as it's image began to break up. "You…you've just made the biggest mistake in your miserable lives!…remember this moment, when you're all laying on your backs in defeat, and moments from your imminent demise! You've all made a grievous error, and for it the impactors shall fall!…FALL!"

"Thank you! That will be enough!" Logia shouted, as he pressed one final button…the Neo Organism doubled over in agony, howling as it's image finally vanished…within moments, a spray of greenish liquid suddenly shot through the screen, pouring all over the middle of the room!

Logia walked over to the middle of the room as the drains opened, and the liquid left the room…

"Dear creator, Logia, I sure hope you made the right decision here…" General Balcus spoke up.

Logia nodded. "Trust me, Balcus…our bickering with this thing was only slowing us down…and now that it is simply a mindless computer once more, we can stay focused on our primary goals…The professor has created some amazing weapons, and when this all over, they're going to belong to us…and once we've figured out how to use them, the Paxerians, and all the other organics will be the ones groveling for mercy for a change."

He walked out, as Lucia sighed softly.

"What is it?" Balcus asked her. "Usually you're quite supportive in his decisions…."

Lucia nodded. "Yes…But I hope he doesn't discover it…"

"Discover what?"

"Information…" Lucia responded. "…data that I had the neo-organism repress in exchange for data on Impactor weaponry…and if Logia finds that data, I fear it might lead him to do something very rash…"

Balcus shook his head and walked off. "That pet monster of yours certainly excels in causing trouble, doesn't he?…"

Lucia simply stood in the middle of the room, meditating…

Littlefoot slowly woke up to the sound of running water…he opened his eyes as everything was a blur at first.

It all slowly came back to him…the fight with Logia, the destruction of Doras…and the revelation about Viras!…

He raised his head as he was lying on his side by a pond, out of his suit. He tried to move more, but felt pain, as he looked down and saw the wound on his chest from where Logia had shot him. Luckily, the wound was healing, thanks to the powers afforded by his suit, albeit rather slowly.

It was then that he heard footsteps, and looked over to see Viras walking towards him slowly. He was stunned a bit, but only at first, as what he learned about her slowly crept back into his conscious.

"Mother?…" he softly spoke up.

Viras purred a little, as she walked closer. Her appearance was still as the hideous creation of the neo-organism, but deep down there was clearly a sense of warmth and benevolence coming through. She slowly opened her large hands, and dropped a few nice "tree-stars" near Littlefoot.

Littlefoot lifted himself a little and looked over the leaves, which were just the right size and thickness. "You always knew what I liked…" he smiled some, as he leaned over gently to eat them.

Viras looked on. She wasn't able to smile in this form to well, but she did the best she could, watching the adolescent longneck obtain his nourishment. Littlefoot winced a little as he tried to settle down on the ground, his chest wound still stinging quite a bit. She walked over slowly, and kneeled down next to him. Littlefoot just stared as she leaned over and opened her mouth, extracting her large tongue as she began to slowly clean the wound.

It felt odd to him, but she knew she was just trying to help him, as he let her do it. He smiled some as happy memories of being with her mother, the way she used to be, began to come to his mind.

"He's a WHAT?" a dumbstruck Cera exclaimed. Ali and Shorty had just recently returned to the valley, and had explained what went on to everyone, having just come to Logia.

"He's a longneck…" Ali re-iterated. "I saw it with my own eyes, when I shot off his helmet."

Takumi shook his head. "Unbelievable…I knew the Impactors had tried, and failed to convert Paxerians using the same methods, but I never knew they had attempted the same thing with creatures outside of their system. And I know I've never seen another Impactor bleed before, so Logia must be their only successful conversion so far."

As this was going on, Bron and Grandpa were both moving as fast as they could to the group, looking right at Ali and Shorty, Bron in particular looking anxious.

"Shorty!" Bron called out. "Is it true what they're saying?...About Ayla?"

Shorty nodded some, with a sympathetic look. He knew a lot about Littlefoot's Mother, as Bron used to talk fondly about her on a lot of different nights. "She's not exactly the same as she was when you knew her…but yes. She's returned."

The revelation hit Bron like a ton of falling boulders. He stood there, as the realization of all this set in. He then lowered his head, and did something Shorty had never seen him do before. Bron began to cry a little, but with a smile on his face, as a tear streaked down his face.

"She's alive…she's alive…" was all that he could manage to say, as Grandpa went to comfort him. Shorty walked over slowly. Had this come along when he was younger, it would have made him insecure, like it did when Littlefoot first came along. But time had passed, and he had felt more and more like part of the family. He came over and helped comfort his guardian, and only father figure.

"Yes, her consciousness somehow managed to carry over into this new form when the neo-organism created her." Takumi spoke up. "If I can convince her to come to my ship, I might be able to figure out what exactly the neo-organism did…then I'll have to see if I can reverse it, and completely restore her original form."

"Can you?" Shorty looked back at Takumi.

Takumi shook his head. "I don't know…it looks like fairly advanced work that was done to her, but I'll try."

As this conversation was taking place, Ozzy was watching from another section, hidden behind some bushes as he carried the Psyga gear.

"Together, those leaf-eaters are far too tough…" he thought to himself. "But taken down one at a time…that's definitely something to consider…." He smiled a bit as he kept himself hidden, waiting for the right moment.

Back on the ship, General Balcus, now completely repaired, walked to the exit of the ship formerly controlled by the neo-organism.

"Where are you headed, General?" Lucia called out to him.

Balcus turned to her. "I've been thinking…if we can get a hold of a living specimen created by the neo-organism, such as the turncoat Viras, then we might be able to learn more from the neo-organism's unique way of combining organic matter with technology…consequently…"

Lucia continued. "…We'd be able to learn a better way of converting certain organics into Impactors, such as Paxerians…"

"Correct…"

Lucia looked up at Balcus again. "Have you told Logia about this?…"

"Of course not!" he scoffed. "He'd much rather see Viras blown to smithereens. It's much better for the future of all Impactors that he NOT know about this plan."

Lucia understood the logic behind this, and nodded once more. "All right…go on your mission then. I'll do my best not to let Logia know about it until you've succeeded."

"Thank you Lieutenant." Balcus responded, walking slowly out of the front hatch, and then teleporting.

Meanwhile, Slick was out on his own, in another part of the valley as he dove in and swam in a refreshing stream nearby. He looked to his right and left as he saw himself in water that was cleaner than he had ever been in, thinking that he could definitely live in a place like this.

He then suddenly sensed something, as he quickly swam to his left, just in time for the blaster shot to miss him, coming from behind!

He looked over and saw a familiar figure, Psyga, looking down, his arm outstretched with his gun!

"You again!" Slick yelled, as he jumped out of the stream.

"Show me everything you've got, leaf eater…" Psyga simply stated, as Slick willingly obliged, transforming into Garren, and immediately whipping out his gun, firing. Pysga quickly jumped out of the way and fired with his own gun, the shots smacking into Garren's armor as he clutched his chest and grunted, running and firing again as Psyga dodged as best he could, reaching and pulling out his batons as he rushed in and smashed Garren across the face! Garren stumbled, but soon responded by grabbing Psyga, and shooting him right in the chest plate.

Psyga fell back, and then grunted as he rushed over and scooped up his weapons, hitting the enter button on his driver as an "Exceed charge" was heard, energy flowing down to his batons as they glowed blue, getting ready to strike as he deflected each shot Garren took at him, and then lunging in for the kill!

He swung his arms up, crossing his batons as he quickly brought them down, only to find Garren blocking him with his gun and arm! The two clashed for what seemed like an eternity as sparks flew! Eventually, Garren was able to throw him off, but the energy discharged still from Psyga as he felt it rush through him!

Psyga rolled off to the side as Garren grunted, and yelled out in pain as his armor sparked and sputtered…the Psi symbol flashed over him, but not fully there, as Garren soon lost consciousness and fell onto his front.

Psyga wasn't sure if Garren was dead, but he didn't want to waste any more energy, as he soon fled the scene.

Garren soon shifted back to Slick as he lay on the ground, badly bruised and burned in a few spots. Ducky was nearby, coming near the same stream, and gasping as she saw his unconscious form, and running over to his side.

"Slick!…Slick!" she called out, trying to get his attention as she lightly slapped his face a few times.

Slick coughed a few times and opened his eyes. "Ducky…"

"What in the world happened?" She exclaimed.

"That guy…the one who attacked us last time…" he managed to speak "He ambushed me…"

"Ozzy?…but why? Why you?"

Slick turned a bit and grunted. "I have no clue…maybe he's trying to take all of us down one at a time…and I was first on his list…"

As Ducky was tending to Slick, Psyga was quickly trying to make his way out of the valley, before coming out of some bushes, and finding something pointed at his chest plate…it was the staff of Rock, who had just turned into Leangle.

"Going somewhere?…"

Psyga grunted, and tried to kick his staff out of the way, only to have Leangle quickly regain control, and slam it down across his chest, making Psyga fall back as he twirled it.

"How…did you know?…" Psyga sputtered

"I've always made it a point to know where Slick is at all times, since we practically grew up together…" Leangle spoke. "I may not have showed up in time to keep you from beating him up, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you do it to anyone else…"

Leangle readied his staff as Psyga reached for his batons…

"Rock!" A voice suddenly called out, as Leangle and Psyga looked over to see Ducky walking toward them, the Delta gear around her waist.

"Slick needs help, Rock…take him to Takumi's ship immediately…."

Leangle tilted his head. "But, what about this guy?"

"Just do it, Rock!" she snapped, "I'll take care of him…"

Psyga scoffed as Leangle nodded, and ran off to retrieve Slick.

"So…the little girl likes to play with deadly weapons, eh?" Psyga chuckled.

Ducky just kept walking as she pulled out the Delta Driver. "It's just not enough for you, is it…you tried to break up my family all those years ago, just to feed yourself, and now you come back to do more damage to our kind…Dinosaurs like you…you're scum…" She shivered, never thinking she'd hear herself say that, as she entered the code, 333, into the driver…STANDING BY…

"Now, now now…" Psyga responded as he withdrew his blue batons once more. "There's no need to be unladylike about this…Despite what you think, I abhor violence against females… But, if you insist on being an insufferable thorn in my side, not to mention causing a great deal of bodily distress to me earlier, then I have no choice but to reduce you to a bloody pulp, do I?…"

Ducky just stared in absolute focus as she held the microphone on the driver to her mouth…"Henshin"…she slipped it into the side of her gear…COMPLETE…the white photon streams shot out once more, transforming her into Delta as she stood and faced down her opponent, While Psyga moved around a little with his batons, getting ready to strike.

Delta moved first, moving in quickly to punch Psyga, only to have Psyga quickly move and knee her in the belly in response, kicking her off to the side as she knocked into a tree. She spun out of the way as he extracted the blades on his weapons and moved in for the kill, making him miss and take a chunk out of the tree instead…she then quickly spun on the tree to the opposite side, grabbing a branch as she kicked Psyga in the chest hard, sending him flying now as she moved in and smashed him in the helmet with a hard right hand…

Psyga quickly regrouped and began swinging with his batons some more, making Delta duck and weave carefully as she moved and caught both of his upper arms under her arms, quickly striking his helmet with a head butt before moving back and jumping, spin-kicking the batons right out of Psyga's hands as he stumbled.

Delta tried to punch him again, only to find her wrist caught by Psyga's powerful hand. He kicked her once, and again in the side, before he used her arm to toss her off to the side. Delta rolled back to her feet quickly as Psyga attempted to nail her with a quick jump kick, only to have Delta grab his leg and throw him off.

Psyga stumbled as he fell and rolled onto the ground, then suddenly found himself tumbling down a rocky hill into a very shallow stream. He got back onto his own feet before looking up and seeing Delta diving down towards him. He tried to move, but was too, late, as Delta tackled him, sending them both into the water, as Psyga countered by kicking her off him.

Delta quickly got on her feet once more, as Psyga made another rushing attack, finding it hard to do it with the water sloshing around his boots. Delta however could maneuver quickly in the water, having the know-how to do so, as she leapt before he made the attack, making him stumble on a rock in the water he didn't see, before she ran in and punched him right in the lower back section of his armor.

Psyga collapsed to his knees as she grabbed his shoulder and punched him three times in the helmet, before he regrouped and suddenly reached to grab Delta up from behind him, using his strength to flip her over so she was in front of him, grabbing her from behind around the neck with one arm, as he applied a chokehold to her in the water.

Psyga grunted and growled, intent on choking the life out of Delta, as she sputtered and struggled, before she relaxed for a moment, letting the water get her armor nice and slick, and then using a quick burst of energy to actually slip down out of his grip! And before he could realize it, Psyga soon saw a boot come up from under the water as she slipped down, and smack him hard in the head through his helmet!

Psyga completely relented on his grip as this hit him, before stumbling back to his feet, while Delta quickly leapt back up to face her adversary.

Fatigued, Psyga tried to make a move, as Delta quickly stopped it with a quick spin kick to his mid-section, and then smacked him in the chest with a well placed punch, and then yet another quick kick from her other foot, moving smoothly and quickly as Psyga was quickly knocked back, rolling in the water…

Psyga then decided to finally pull out his gun, firing as he stood back up. Delta saw this coming however, as she pulled out her own gun and fell back as she saw the blasts heading towards her, firing….each shot flew and hit Psyga repeatedly in his chest plate, as sparks began to fly!

Psyga cried out in pain as the sparks burned him, the force of the shots throwing him a few feet as he fell back into the water, the impact of the rocks below jarring his driver loose, as he changed back into Ozzy.

Delta readied her gun for another shot, as Ozzy pulled himself back onto the land, sputtering and coughing as he groaned at the sight of the burns on his chest and back.

She mulled over the thought of killing him, wondering if she could actually bring herself to do it…but before she could come to a decision, something hit her hard from behind!

Delta yelled in pain as she fell over, looking to see Lucia standing behind her with her blade at the ready, as she looked over at Ozzy.

"Why must I continually drop everything to come and assist you Ozzy?…Did I make a mistake in selecting you for the Psyga gear?"

She shook her head and walked over as Ozzy coughed, unable to respond at the moment as she picked him up and teleported off with him, while Delta simply got up and changed back into Ducky, watching them.

Meanwhile, Littlefoot, now completely recovered from his wounds, walked a bit with Viras, as she placidly looked around at the scenery, just like his mother used too…of course, back in those days, they weren't in the picturesque scenery of the valley, but she still tried to find some nice scenery nonetheless.

Littlefoot thought to himself before addressing her. "Ummm…listen…" Viras turned her head to him attentively. "I already know the truth about you, obviously…but now there's something else that's been bugging me…before I passed out from my wounds, I thought I saw Ali shoot Logia's head off…only he had another head on underneath…and it looked like the head of a longneck my own age…was I imagining that?"

Viras sighed a bit before slowly shaking her head. She had heard Logia relating much of his tale to General Balcus on the ship, as she growled and held out both of her hands, making each one into an oval shape, like an egg…

Littlefoot looked on curiously. "What?…What are you trying to say?"

Viras growled a little more as she moved her hands to herself, and then out to Littlefoot again, still in the same egg shape, holding one to Littlefoot, and one closer to herself, before balling that hand up into a fist, trying to make it look like a head, a young longneck's head.

"Wait…" Littlefoot spoke up. "Are you trying to say that he IS really a longneck?"

Viras nodded yes, growling as she then took her fist, and gently touched it to Littlefoot, and then to herself.

"Whoa, wait a minute…" Littlefoot's eyes had gone wide now. "Now you're saying he's related to us somehow?"

Viras nodded again, touching his chest again for emphasis.

"You're saying…He's my brother?"

Littlefoot looked on in disbelief. But before Viras could confirm this fact with a nod, She suddenly sensed something, as she turned and suddenly fired behind her!

Littlefoot looked over to see General Balcus leaping away from the shot!

"You!" Littlefoot shouted, as Viras roared in anger.

Balcus slowly got back to his feet. "That creature you have is a very valuable one, earth creature. Hand her over to me, and I'll see that she gets proper care on my ship."

Littlefoot quickly went out in front of Viras as the Agito belt appeared on his middle, getting ready to transform him. "You're not gonna lay one finger on my mother! I'll die before I see that happen!"

"Mother?…" Balcus tilted his head for a moment, before shrugging it off and chuckling. "Well, it doesn't matter what delusion caused you to believe this…this creature is going right back to where she belongs…"

Littlefoot quickly changed to Agito, in his red form, taking out his sword and charging Balcus, as the general held out his shield and fired the hidden lasers in it. Agito ducked and rolled out of the way of each blast, as he came up, and clashed blades with Balcus.

They stood there trying to gain an advantage over each other, before Viras finally sent out a laser blast from her shoulder, which hit Balcus right in his sword arm. He grunted as the force made him throw his sword, while Agito kicked Balcus' shield away, and scored hits all along his side and chest with the sword, sending sparks everywhere!

Agito tried to go for a killing stroke on Balcus, before the general saw an opening, and grabbed him right around the throat!

Agito dropped his sword and choked, as Balcus slowly lifted him up by the throat, getting ready to snap his neck. "That's the problem with you vertebrates…too big of a weak spot running all the way down your back…"

Balcus slowly moved his fingers, but before he could make his move, Viras once again let loose with a precision laser, smacking Balcus right in the hand as he howled and dropped Agito. Viras then quickly flew in and tackled the impactor before he could recover. They tumbled a good distance from Littlefoot, before Balcus finally grabbed her by her own throat.

"Throwing yourself at an adversary is hardly ever a good idea, creature…" Balcus growled, before getting a hold of his shield and shooting her in the stomach with the laser, making her yowl in pain as he smashed her in the face with the shield, making her fall off of him.

"Mother!" Agito yelled, as he charged in to fight Balcus, only to receive a direct blow to the helmet from his shield laser!

Agito grunted and fell back, clutching his head as Balcus grabbed a hold of the weakened Viras, and transported away with her.

"Mother…mother…" Agito whimpered, as he changed back into Littlefoot. At the same time, Ali, now in the form of Chalice, drove up in her bike, having just tracked him down.

"Littlefoot?…What's going on?" She enquired, as she got off her vehicle and ran over to Littlefoot.

"Mother…" Littlefoot looked down. "They got mother…they took her away, and it's my fault…after all that time she protected me, and I couldn't protect her…" a single tear rolled down his cheek, as Chalice gave him a sympathetic look under her helmet and changed back into Ali, giving him a gentle nuzzle to comfort him.

Back on the ship, Logia was hard at work, doing research on all the data from what was formerly known as the neo-organism. His eyes were glazed over from all the work, until he came upon some very interesting data. He looked over it, again and again, making sure he wasn't imagining things.

"How can this be?…" he muttered to himself. "Why didn't the damn computer tell me this earlier?…And reason did it have not to…"

He was so engulfed in this discovery, that he didn't see what was going in the main room. The space in the middle that had once held the physical manifestation of the Neo-Organism began to glow on and off…but this time the light was white, instead of green…


	19. Never forgotten

"Ow!"

Slick winced in pain as Takumi went over some of his wounds.

"Please hold still…" The Paxerian sighed and chuckled some. "You are worse than Mihara was when it came to first aid."

"Yeah Slick, suck it up…" Rock chuckled as he stood there for support for his friend.

Slick nodded. "I know…I should just be grateful that Pysga didn't kill me." He gritted his teeth a little, but didn't move, as Takumi applied a few stiches, and treated his burns with some soothing liquid.

"Psyga…" Rock's eyes went wide. "Oh, I forgot all about that guy!…I sure hope Ducky was able to handle him."

Slick lowered his head some. "Yeah…I'd hate to think I was responsible for her demise because I wasn't good enough to stop the guy before she came in…"

A familiar voice suddenly called out, "Don't start blaming yourself just yet, Slick." As he turned to see Ducky walking back onto the ship, the Delta gear held at her side.

"Hey!" Rock called out, laughing happily, "Glad to see you survived!"

Slick nodded in agreement, sighing in relief as Ducky walked closer. "Yup, yup yup…" she giggled "And I don't think our egg-snatching friend is gonna be showing himself again for some time!"

"Ducky…" Slick nodded to Ducky. "Thanks…I owe you…"

"You don't owe me anything, Slick…" Ducky smiled. "I'm just glad to see you're ok…"

The two shared a silent moment, before Slick spoke up. "So…what's been going on since I was hauled off to this place?"

Ducky and the others began to explain what had just occurred with Littlefoot and Viras, as Littlefoot himself stood out in the middle of the valley, just staring out towards nowhere. The silence was finally broken by the approaching footsteps of his father.

"Littlefoot…" Bron spoke as he approached his son.

Littlefoot looked back at him sorrowfully. "I suppose Ali already told you…"

Bron nodded softly "She did…" he sighed "Littlefoot, don't beat yourself up like this…"

"She protected me so many times before, Dad…" He interrupted. "She even gave up her life for me. I never even had a chance to do that…and now who knows what's gonna happen to her…"

"Littlefoot…" Bron responded gently. "You're up against forces even she never had to face when you were younger. I think she'd understand that, and all she'd want is for you to fight them with everything you have, which I know you were doing, even when she was captured…no matter what happens, I'm sure she'd be proud of you…"

Bron comforted his son, as he slowly nodded, and looked up, his spirit lifting some. "You're right…I gave it my all…I always have…and I'll continue to do so…" He stood slowly and looked towards his parked bike, walking to it and pausing.

"What are you going to do now?" Bron enquired.

Littlefoot narrowed his eyes some. "I'm going to find Logia…"

"Why him?" Bron tilted his head. "Wasn't it General Balcus who took your mother?"

"Let the others take care of him…" Littlefoot responded, thinking of what Viras had tried to tell him about Logia. "I'll join them, but there's something I need to find out first…something important…"

As this was happening, Logia walked placidly to the front entrance of the ship, as Lucia came in, having discarded Ozzy elsewhere, and warning him to start giving her crew some results.

"Logia…" Lucia looked over to him, somewhat nervously, as he just stood there, silently. "What is it?"

Logia slowly approached her; with a page he printed from the computer, holding a belt in his other hand. He gently gave her the page.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked her.

Lucia froze as she learned that he had indeed discovered the very data she had hoped to hide from him.

She didn't speak, though, as Logia broke the silence. "According to this, with a few simple adjustments, a creature with my unique body structure could easily use the Orga gear." He held up the belt, which he had in his other hand. "The Neo-Organism had no good reason to hide this from me, so I'm starting to wonder if somebody aboard this ship convinced it to…"

"Logia…" Lucia spoke. "You don't understand what kind of risk you're taking…"

"What risk?" Logia shot back. "The risk of being able to access great power, so we can finally put an end to this whole, ridiculous conflict with these primitive, and stubborn organics? Is this the kind of risk you speak of?"

"Listen to me, Logia!" Lucia responded firmly. "The Neo-Organism doesn't know your body as well as I do…I crafted your external and internal mechanics all by myself…your processors can't handle the kind of power the belt puts out!"

Logia shook his head. "Don't underestimate me, Lucia…"

"Logia!" Lucia asserted herself. "I need you to listen…Your processors can NOT handle Orga's power…if you use that belt, even once…you could overload your life support, your main battery, and kill yourself."

Logia listened to this closely, and held the belt up, looking it over. "Perhaps that's a risk I should be willing to take…"

Lucia shook her head. "No Logia…you still have so much left to do in this world…the Impactors still need a commander like you. You've helped our world make great strides against the organics, and firmly imprint us in the minds of everyone in the universe…our cause is in full force, and we need you…"

Logia thought this over for a moment, as Lucia looked on silently…wordlessly, the commander placed the belt on a nearby table.

After this quiet moment, the door opened, as General Balcus came in, carrying an unconscious Viras. Logia took one look, and nearly went ballistic!

"What the hell do you think you're doing, General!" He quickly withdrew his gun, aiming for the turncoat creature!

"Hold your fire!" Balcus quickly put Viras down and threw up his hands. "Hold your fire, damn it!"

"I should have known you'd go behind my back again!" Logia walked over and pushed Balcus out of the way, shoving his gun under the chin of the barely conscious Viras as he cocked it…

"Hello mother…" he growled.

"What?…" Lucia walked over to Logia's side. "Did you just say what I thought you said?"

"Yes…" Logia nodded. "I don't quite know how this happened, but it IS my mother, deep down in this body…"

Balcus scoffed. "Are you sure your head is on straight, Commander?"

Logia slowly turned his head to face him. "Believe me, General…if I really were going crazy, Lucia would be picking your parts up off the floor for talking to me like that…" He looked to Viras, and back up. "And what is the meaning of bringing her here anyway?…"

Lucia spoke up. "Logia, Balcus believes that if we take a closer look at what the Neo-Organism did to put her together, we may be able to find a better way of converting other species into Impactors…and increase our numbers."

Logia listened intently. "It's an interesting theory…" he aimed his gun at Viras again. "…But right now, I'm having a hard time deciding not to blow this miserable mother of mine into pieces…"

"Don't do it!" Lucia protested.

"Commander, please…" Balcus tried to calm things down. "…If you could just hold back your desire for vengeance for a little while…just a few hours with this specimen are all I need, to obtain all the necessary information for this experiment…after I've gotten what I need from her, you can do anything you'd like to satisfy your bloodlust…"

"Very well…" Logia decided finally, pulling his gun away and unloading it. "Be quick about this, General…"

"Thank you, Commander…" Balcus nodded, picking Viras up and carrying her to the main room of the ship, as Logia looked on with Lucia.

As Balcus brought Viras into the room, and placed her on a table, he noticed something odd…the same white glow from the middle that had come into the room earlier, only it was a bit fainter…

"What in the world is this?" Balcus said to himself, as he came to the spot where the Neo-Organism had stood previously. He tried to find out where this glow was coming from, as he reached down to adjust some wires at the platform.

"What's going on, General?" Logia enquired as he came into the room, seeing Balcus working on the platform instead of Viras, noticing the glow as well.

"I'm…not sure…" Balcus responded, curiously, fiddling with the wires. "I can detect little to no activity coming from the computer in this area…at least not enough to explain this odd glow coming from the platform."

After a few more minutes of tinkering, with his comrades watching, Balcus gave up for the moment. "Ah, I can't figure this out…I'll have to look at it later, after I've finished working on Viras…"

"You shall do no such thing, Impactor!" a strong, female voice called out as he turned and walked…

Balcus turned and looked at the platform, where the voice came from, as he, and Logia and Lucia stepped back, the glow getting stronger now as a completely new figure materialized in place of the Neo-Organism's spot.

The Figure was now in the shape of what looked like a young woman, completely white, with what appeared to be long, flowing white hair.

"How?…" Logia exclaimed. "How is this possible…"

The Figure looked to him and spoke in a distorted, feminine voice. "You made this possible Logia…when you shut down all of the original programming, you erased all the parts of me that created that awful being, the Neo-Organism…you purged me of him…"

"Oh?…" Logia responded. "You're some sort of separate entity now?…"

"Yes…" The figure responded. "I am the Neo-Spirit, and I am here to atone for all of the mistakes my predecessor has made until now…" she narrowed her eyes. "And I shall begin by preventing you Impactors from ever using me again!"

Before Logia could even respond, a defense gun came down from the wall and fired on the Impactors!

Logia ducked and ran over to Lucia's side as Balcus held up his shield to deflect the shots, as Lucia exclaimed "How is she doing that?…I thought you disabled all of those systems when you shut the whole thing down!"

"I did!" Logia exclaimed, as he rose to his feet and fired his gun, smashing a monitor as the shot exploded, hoping to take out something, anything that was enabling the Neo-Spirit to attack.

It was no use though, as the Neo-Spirit knew exactly how to rid herself of the Impactors…with a look, she opened a grate on the floor to the ventilation shaft, and with a single blast from a beam weapon on the wall, sent the trio flying into it, making them all tumble along the metal sides before falling out one by one onto the ground.

Logia scrambled to his feet as Lucia helped Balcus to his feet. Logia ran frantically towards the front door, only to bounce off the invisible force field that the Neo-Spirit had just activated!

"I shall no longer be used to bring death and suffering to the innocent!" Her voice echoed over the loudspeakers on the ship. With that, the rockets suddenly ignited, lifting the vessel off the ground!

"Come back here, you damned computer!" Logia shouted, taking out his gun and firing in frustration, each shot bouncing off the force field. As the ship finally left, he yelled out in frustration and dropped to his knees.

"Damn it all!"

"Are you all right?" Lucia asked, checking Logia's body.

"I'm fine…but we've lost the ship…we've lost Viras…" Logia shook his head. "We've lost everything…"

It was then that General Balcus slowly walked up. "Not quite, Commander…I was able to grab one thing before that creature kicked us out of her home…"

Logia looked over as Balcus slowly lifted the complete Orga gear in his hands.

The commander nodded slowly and went to take it from him, as Lucia slowly walked in front of him. "I've warned you, Logia…you know what could happen if you use that belt…couldn't we just take the time to find-"

"Time?…" Logia suddenly snapped at the Lieutenant. "TIME?…after creating two belts, and giving one to an imbecile?…After having all of the creatures that worked for us either killed or turned against us?…After the most powerful computer in the universe suddenly refuses to assist us, and kicks us out of it's ship?…you want TIME?…" The Commander was livid.

"Logia…" Lucia started, uneasily, before General Balcus cut her off, this time.

"I don't understand this…we have gone through so many missions, on so many different, and advanced planets…yet we can't deal with a few meddlesome organics on a primitive and backward planet, who somehow know how to use these high-tech suits!…tell me how that's possible, Commander!…"

Logia turned to Balcus and looked at him coldly… "My brother, General…"

"Your brother?…" Balcus tilted his head.

"Yes General…my brother…the one who leads these organics…he's been poison in my veins ever since I landed here! Ever serving as a reminder of the lowly, wretched way in which I grew up…but not for long…" he began to walk off, taking the Orga gear, and flipping open a panel on his wrist, making adjustments with the wires.

Lucia ran over to his side. "Please Logia…don't do this…you're being too rash in this decision!"

Logia was dead calm now as he adjusted his wires. "I have to do it, Lucia…he HAS to be eliminated…he's too strong for me to take down as I am now…I need Orga's power to do it…once he's gone, the rest will fall one by one…And to me, that's worth risking my own life for…"

Lucia saw little point in arguing from here, and simply nodded, hoping everything would turn out ok for the one she had raised and cared for since his first day of life, as he slowly walked off, and then teleported.

The Neo-Spirit's ship flew through the atmosphere of the planet, as Viras still lay on the table in the center room, slowly coming back to consciousness, grunting some. This got the attention of the form of the Neo-Spirt, as she slowly turned on the platform to the direction of Viras.

"I'm relieved to see you're still alive…"

Viras growled some and tilted her head.

The Neo-Spirit smiled. "Don't be troubled, creature…my brother is not around to harm you anymore."

Viras nodded slowly and stretched out, wondering what to do at this point as the Neo-Spirit reached out to the nearby table and gently stroked her.

"You poor thing…" she lamented. "Look at what he did to you…it's not right…but I'm going to make it right…"

With that she waved her hand over Viras' face, making her fall asleep almost immediately. "I'm going to fix you, Viras…I'm going to fix everything my brother did wrong…" She simply looked on as a glass enclosure came up from the table, surrounding Viras as she willed a computer panel to appear, getting to work…

It was at that point that Littlefoot was already on his way out to find Logia, in his Agito suit as he drove along the Mysterious beyond in his bike. He had not told anyone about this solo mission, but Takumi had noticed him leaving, and said he'd keep an eye on him just in case.

Agito rode with a fierce determination in his eyes, wanting to find his brother and face him in the worst way, not knowing the moment would come sooner than he expected…

He suddenly sensed Logia's blaster shot heading right towards him, as he turned sharply to avoid it, only to end up tumbling out of the vehicle as the blast hit a tree and obliterated it!

Burning tree-stars slowly began to rain from the sky as Agito rose and saw the familiar figure standing a few yards away from him, and then walking with his gun at his side.

"Brother!" Agito called out to the Impactor.

Logia growled as he raised his gun. "Don't you DARE call me that to my face, you flesh-job!"

He fired again, as Agito leapt out of the way, the blast taking out another tree!

Back in the Valley, A distraught Ali walked right up to Bron.

"He just left?…that's it?…"

Bron nodded slowly. "He said he was going after Logia for some reason."

Ali's eyes went wide, remembering the revelation of what was under his helmet. "He must have seen it then too…and he wants answers…" She sighed and sat down. "I just hope he can find them without getting himself killed."

Just as she was thinking about this, an explosion suddenly went off in the distance, followed by a fleeing family of duckbills. She looked up with Bron to see Ozzy, in his Psyga armor, flying on his jet-pack, as Cera, Rock, and Ducky all gathered around to see him.

"I've had it up to here with you leaf-gobblers!" Psyga yelled. "This time we play for keeps!…This time we don't stop until one of us is dead!" The four adolescents looked on fiercely, getting ready to change as Psyga growled to himself. "It's all for you, Strut…"

Ali ran and shifted into the form of Chalice, her bow at the ready, as Rock and Cera both made their belts materialize on their middles, changing into Leangle and Blade once more as Blade whipped out her sword, and Leangle readied his tri-bladed staff. Ducky looked on for a moment at Psyga, remembering their last fight as she entered 333 into her driver once more…"STANDING BY…" before she raised the device to her lips, spoke "Henshin" then slipped it into the side of her belt…"COMPLETE".

As she finished changing into Delta, she took out her gun and provided backup for Chalice, who was firing energy arrows in an attempt to bring down Psyga, shooting her own gun as Leangle and Blade were waiting with their weapons drawn.

As this was going on, Shorty was driving towards the scene as Gillis, trying to help out before something exploded in front of his bike, forcing him to bail out as he growled and rolled to his feet, looking and seeing General Balcus as he slowly put down his shield.

"Not so fast, Organic…I still have a bit of a score to settle with you!" Balcus stated, tapping his recently repaired face.

"Oh that…I almost forgot…" Gillis readied himself for the fight. "This time I'll remember to take out BOTH sides of your face…"

Balcus laughed some as he pointed his sword at Gillis. "You're a bold one, Organic…quite unique among your brethren…let's see if your skill still measures up to your tongue in sharpness!"

Balcus then launched himself at Gillis, bringing his sword down hard as Gillis rolled away and kicked the Impactor's shield hard, sending him back some as Gillis quickly extended a blade from his wrist, growling as he slashed for Balcus' side, only to be blocked by the hilt of the general's sword.

As this was going on, Psyga quickly evaded all of the shots being aimed at him on his jet pack, before swooping down and tackling Chalice, smashing her against a tree as she went down. Delta frantically tried to shoot at him, before he swooped over to her next and made her jump away with a series of shots from the machine guns on his handles.

Delta responded by clicking the device on her wrist…"START UP…" with a few seconds of revving, she took off with a great burst of speed , running all around Psyga as he flailed at her, trying to take her down and failing each time.

As he went down further to pursue the rushing Delta, Blade quickly nodded to Leangle, making him kneel down as she ran up and sprang off his back, leaping onto Psyga from behind! Psyga grunted and turned as he tried to shake Blade from his back, as she jammed her sword into his jet pack and held on with the hilt!

Chalice got back to her feet with Delta as Psyga focused only on Blade, trying to get her off his back, not realizing he was flying into the path of Leangle, who stood with his staff, ready to strike!

As he went through, Leangle swung the staff hard, slashing one of the main fuel cables on the jet pack! Blade jumped off and into Leangle's arms, as Psyga struggled with the controls of his out of control jet pack, which quickly ran out of fuel as he found himself tumbling down onto the ground hard, his engine dying as he suddenly saw Delta rushing towards him.

"3…2…1…" With the last few seconds of her speed, Delta smashed into Psyga with a flying kick, making him yell out as fell hard on his back, his jet pack smashing into pieces as Delta returned to her normal self…"TIME OUT…"

Delta was about to strike when a voice suddenly came on in her helmet.

"Ducky! Pull back!" Takumi yelled.

"Why?" Delta quickly asked.

"Shorty's been ambushed, and he needs backup!"

Delta tilted her head. "Can't you do it? Our hands are kind of tied!"

"I would, but I'm already on my way to assist Littlefoot."

"Ok…" Delta responded, as she looked over to Chalice. "Ali! Shorty needs our help, can you give me a hand?"

Chalice nodded. "Yeah…I think Cera and Rock have this guy under control anyway." She ran off with Delta as Leangle and Blade focused on Psyga, who quickly withdrew the batons from the wreckage.

"It's not over…It's not over!" Psyga yelled, as he readied himself for the fight.

Meanwhile, out in the mysterious beyond, Logia threw himself on Agito, rolling with him on the ground as he kicks him aside, withdrawing the blades on his wrist as Agito changed to his blue-armored form, taking out his double-bladed staff as they clashed right there.

"Why?…" Agito shouted. "Why are you doing this, brother?"

"I told you, DON'T call me that!" he growled as he kicked Agito away, slashing at him with his blades as Agito defended himself as well as he could, only to end up with a blade caught in his chest!

Agito yelled out in pain! The blade just barely missed his heart, as Logia grunted and kept the blade in the same spot, wanting to enjoy this moment as he slowly removed his helmet, letting Agito see his scarred face.

"Take a good look…" he sneered. "This is what she did…this is what your mother brought me to!"

Agito grunted "I…I don't know what you're talking about, really!…I always thought I was her only child!"

"Oh, don't tell me you didn't see me!" Logia growled again, making Agito scream in Agony as he twisted the blade in his chest a little. "That night…when the earth shook…the land fell…the world divided…the rain that fell…and fell…and fell…she was fighting a sharptooth that was chasing you…remember?…"

Agito looked up quickly, as he knew which night he was describing. "You…You were there?…"

Logia gave him a stern look. "Not only was I there, but that was the same night I almost died…while your mother was fighting the Sharptooth, I wanted her to protect me too…I approached her…and she knocked me away with her tail…I fell down a chasm…and hit…hard…at the bottom." He began to breathe heavily.

Agtio gripped Logia's arm. "Brother…listen to me…Mother would never do that intentionally…It was an accident, really…she was kind…and caring…really…that same night, she died moments after fighting off the Sharptooth…really Logia…that's OUR real mother…she's a protector!.."

"Maybe to YOU!" he roared as he twisted the blade again, making Agito howl in pain again. He looked down at him. "Do you know what it's like?…to live in emptiness…sadness…day after day?…to have no one to comfort you?…no one to rely on but yourself?…the loneliness that seems to last an eternity?…"

Agito panted in pain as he looked his brother defiantly in the eye. "Yes…I do…maybe you didn't hear me, but my mother DIED after fighting off that sharptooth…before I found all my friends, and discovered the valley, I felt just as lonely and without help as you, Logia…I felt the sting just as much as you have, believe me…We're the same Logia…we're the same…"

Agito made his helmet de-materialize, showing the strained face of Littlefoot underneath as he looked to his brother, holding his arm still as Logia's expression lightened ever so slightly…slowly, Logia withdrew the blade from Agito's chest, as he fell back and panted in relief, the wound quickly healing up.

Logia just looked down at him…suddenly, things weren't as black and white to him as they seemed. He had forgotten in his rage that Littlefoot was his own being, with his own feelings, and he realized that from looking into his eyes…part of him still wanted to kill his brother, but now, something deep inside, was telling him to pull back.

Meanwhile, Leangle and Blade were both dealing with Psyga, who was kicking and swiping like mad with his batons, as Leangle swung his staff, clashing his tri-blade with the batons as Blade slashed with her sword, catching on one baton as the three warriors clashed at once.

"You three-horns…" Psyga grunted. "Always so eager to clash…and always blindly so…" He suddenly fell back, smacking both Blade and Leangle with his batons in the back, as the force threw the two together, and knocked them out!

The two changed three-horns struggled to recover as Psyga extracted the blades on his batons, getting ready to put an end to them both. Until something hit him hard in the back!

Psyga grunted and turned to see a fully recovered Slick, as Garren, aiming his gun at him! "You again!"

"You're pretty good at catching others off guard!" Garren yelled. "Now let's what happens when you're on the other end of it!" With that he unleashed a barrage of energy bullets from his gun, as they all peppered Psyga's armor, making him smoke as he quickly started to try deflecting them with his batons.

Garren then put his gun away as his allies got back to their feet, leaping into the air and suddenly splitting into two images of himself once more, confusing Psyga as he swung for the Garren on the left, only to have it vanish as the real Garren on the right smacked him with a hard jump kick!

Psyga fell back and rolled on the ground, before getting back to his feet…"Bastard leaf gobbler!" he roared, as he scooped up his batons and charged head on towards the warriors, pressing the button on his driver…"EXCEED CHARGE"

His batons glowed as he charged, with Garren looking on as Blade charged up energy in her arm, making it travel to her sword as she readied herself for an attack…with Psyga still charging, ready to hit the stubborn female three-horn with his finisher…he brought up his arms…

And he was suddenly caught! Leangle had swung his staff towards Psyga out of his sight, and had caught both his arms in mid-air with it!

"Time to say goodbye, egg-stealer!" Blade yelled, as Garren whipped out his gun and shot Psyga Square in the chest! Psyga fell back with his arms in the air, as Blade charged in with her charged sword, slashing it horizontally as she caught the blade in Psyga's middle, slowly running it through his body as it sparked and made noise, as Psyga grunted and yelled out. "Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhh!…"

Blade ran through Psyga completely as she stopped and kneeled behind him, her sword to the side as Psyga froze up, his armor suddenly bursting into white flames as his power supply was completely severed, and now consuming him! He loosened, and stumbled, before he finally went limp.

"uh.."

A bang, and a bright flash of light came over him, as his complete form turned to grey dust, falling apart and crumbling until there was nothing but a big pile of the grey dust on the ground…Ozzy, and the Psyga gear, were no more…

At this moment, Delta, Chalice, and Gillis were effectively attacking General Balcus, who was guarding himself as best he could with his shield, before looking in the distance and seeing the smoldering remains of what had been Psyga.

"Damn it all!" Balcus growled. "I'm going to have to tell Lucia and the commander about this development." He deflected a few more attacks from Gillis before addressing him, Delta, and Chalice. "I'm afraid I'll have to cut this short…until next time, organics…" with that, he teleported away from the scene.

Out in the mysterious beyond, Logia stood still near Agito for the longest time, pondering whether he should kill his brother right now, or really believe what was told to him…until a voice called out.

"Logia…"

He turned to see Lucia walking towards him. "Why are you hesitating?" she looked to Agito, and back to him. "Isn't this why you came here?…to rid yourself of this organic?…why not do it now?"

"He's…my brother…" Logia simply responded, hesitantly.

"Yes…the only other spawn of your mother…the one who tried to take you out of her life…remember?" she looked to Agito again, and back to Logia once more. "I don't know what he's told you, but ignore it! Remember, he's an organic! His mouth is filled with lies, and his heart is full of deceit…remember…if it wasn't for me and the impactors, you wouldn't be standing here now! I cared for you…I took you in…I saved you…Logia…I made you…not your mother, and certainly not him!…"

Logia began to tense up as Agito slowly stumbled to his feet. The commander shook some as he remembered once more…the rain…the lightning…the fighting…his plummet…and his awakening as an impactor…

"aaaaaahhh….aaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Logia's memories tortured him once more, as he lashed out at Agito, extracting his blade. "DIE!"

Agito felt the adrenaline rush through him and put up his right hand…and caught the blade!

Logia looked to see that Agito had suddenly shifted to his muscular "Burning" form…but something else was happening…as Agito held the blade, his belt began to glow once more, an unearthly shine emanating from his body as it consumed even the flames that covered his burning form…he twisted his hand, and instantly shattered Logia's blade!

Logia was thrown back by this, as Agito breathed calmly, and shifted…right before their eyes, the red armor of his Burning form becoming a bright white, lined with red. Agito assumed his final form…his ultimate incarnation…his "Shining" form!

"Another form, eh?" Lucia readied her blade weapon. "No matter…even you can't handle two impactors at once!"

She ran in to attack, before something came from out of nowhere and hit her, sending her flying! She tumbled and looked up to see Takumi in his Faiz gear, flying in as he already had gone into Axcel mode, firing his gun once more as Lucia dodged it this time.

"He's not gonna have to, Lucia!" Faiz yelled down to her.

"Blasted Paxerian!" Lucia growled to herself. "Where's Psyga to help me with this?"

Balcus, who had just teleported onto the scene, had heard Lucia as he walked up behind her. "I'm afraid the Psyga gear has been destroyed, and it's wearer terminated."

Lucia lowered her head. "Damn it all…I should have known I could have picked a better candidate…" She then got back up and readied her blade weapon, as Faiz zoomed down for a closer shot.

Logia then tried to fire at Agito, only to have him raise his hand and deflect the shot, as if it were nothing. Logia grunted in frustration and fired again…Agito not only blocked it with his hand, but also had it ricochet over to General Balcus and hit him hard! Balcus grunted and tumbled down a hill, knocked out for the moment!

Lucia clashed with Faiz, who came down and changed out of Axcel mode to fight on the ground, as Logia fired and fired, unable to get a shot to hit Agito in his new Shining form.

"Listen to me…" Agito spoke, his voice slightly distorted by this form. "Look at yourself…you're not one of them…"

Logia just stood there, unable to come up with a response as he looked over at Faiz battling with Lucia, wielding his sword.

"I may not be able to shoot you, brother…but there's more than one way to hurt you!" Logia growled as he whipped out his gun and aimed it at Faiz, who was clashing blades with Lucia!

Agito made a move to try to stop Logia, but his trigger finger was too quick…he got the shot off, as it went over and smacked into Faiz's hand! Faiz was caught off guard by the shot, as Lucia twirled her blade, and promptly sliced off his entire arm! Faiz quickly changed back to Takumi, as he screamed out in pain and clutched at the area where his arm used to be…

"Takumi!" Agito yelled out, as he turned and gave Logia a hard backhand, knocking him off his feet as he ran over to Lucia, who stood with her blade raised, ready for a killing blow, as he withdrew his own blade weapon.

Logia looked up from the ground groggily, as Agito knocked Lucia away from Takumi, only to have her kick him hard as he fell onto his back on the ground. Lucia grunted and raised her weapon high, yelling out as she ran towards the downed Agito.

In that moment, however, Agito had found Faiz's discarded sword within his reach…in the heat of the moment, he promptly picked up the blade and threw it…making the blade go straight, as it quickly Impaled Lucia through the middle of her chest!

At that moment, time slowed down for Logia, as all sound faded as well, his own heartbeat the only audible sound, as he slowly stood up and watched…Lucia, the only being who had ever been there for him, who had seen him through all the good and bad times in his life, went limp, and collapsed to the ground, dead…

Logia's expression turned to one of shock and horror…

"LUCIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

He ran over to the dead Lieutenant, his mind focused only on her, as Agito picked up the wounded Takumi, and the Faiz gear, driving off with them in tow on his bike…

General Balcus was back on his feet, just staring at the sight of Logia holding Lucia's lifeless body…

The memories all ran through his head once more…she had been there for him from day one…she had fed him, and given him warmth…she had watched out for him, and even sacrificed her reputation among the Impactors to keep him alive…but now she was gone…now he truly was all alone…

With this realization, tears began to stream down Logia's scarred face, as he cried for the first time in what seemed like ages…he cradled Lucia's dead body in his arms, as he looked down at the discarded Orga gear, which he was waiting for to use at the right moment…

"Lucia…Lucia…" he finally managed to say…"I'll never forget all you did for me…and as the creator as my witness…I'll make damn sure that none of them forget it too…"

With that, he stood, and put his helmet back on, throwing the Orga gear over his shoulder as he lifted Lucia's lifeless form, carrying her off as General Balcus wordlessly followed him…

Meanwhile, on Takumi's ship, a monitor suddenly flickered to life near the cryo-tube that contained Mihara's body…the image of the Neo-Spirit appearing!

"All that must be done, shall be done, by me…" she looked towards the cryo-tube. "You were robbed of your life, when you still had much more to do…that was a huge error…but I shall now correct this error, as your comrade is in a moment of great need…"

With that, a bizarre substance suddenly began to pump through the cables that went into the cryo tube, making the area begin to glow…


	20. Death and rebirth

Agito raced back into the valley, carrying the amputated Takumi, sitting in front of him, still alive thanks to his quick Paxerian healing, but very much exhausted and bruised from his fight with Lucia.

"Littlefoot…" he said tiredly. "I'm so sorry…" he looked to the area where his arm used to be. "I'm not gonna be of much help to you with only one arm…"

"Don't talk…just relax" Agito responded, driving into the entranceway as the others were already gathered, waiting for the two as he stopped his bike.

"Oh no…Takumi!" Ducky shouted, being the first to spot her wounded Paxerian ally. "What happened to him?" she asked Agito, with very frightened eyes.

"Lucia sliced off his arm…" Agito plainly stated. "I have to get him back to his ship."

"It's ok…" Takumi reached and patted Ducky on the shoulder. "Really…Paxerians can recover quickly from lost limbs…I just need a little rest is all."

Ducky nodded as she gripped her Delta gear with her right hand. "I'll find Lucia, Takumi…and I'll make her sorry she ever did this to you, I promise."

"Don't bother…" Agito looked to her again. "Lucia's already dead…"

Ducky just looked at him and nodded as Agito drove off with Takumi, heading straight for the ship as he soon stopped and scooped up his downed ally, the Faiz gear in tow as he carried him to the entrance of his ship, setting him down on the cot he slept on inside.

"Are you comfortable?" Agito asked him as he helped him into the sheets.

"Oh yes, I'm doing just fine n-" Takumi froze as he noticed something, right in front of him, his eyes going wide.

"What is it?"

Takumi pointed behind Agito with his remaining arm "Mihara's cryo-tube…it's open…and it's empty!…"

Agito quickly turned to confirm this…the tube had indeed been opened…near the side, a section of the glass was shattered…and looked like it was broken from inside, as the flexible glass shards were bent outward.

Just then, something just out of his view appeared to lunge at Agito…the warrior turned and drew his sword, only to freeze in mid-swing as he got a good look.

A familiar face, which had just stumbled while trying to walk again, was looking up at Agito on his knees.

"Mihara!" Agito exclaimed, as Takumi simply froze in wonder.

"Good to see you again, Littlefoot…" Mihara spoke softly.

Takumi couldn't say a word as Mihara got back up on his feet, walking over to his side slowly, noticing his lost arm.

"Takumi…what the hell happened to you? Are you ok?" Mihara enquired, sitting on the bed near his comrade.

"I'm fine…I'm gonna be fine…" Takumi put up his hand, and nodded as he said this. "But what about you?…You're supposed to be dead!"

Mihara nodded "I know…I don't remember a thing about it…all I remember after going black was this energy going into my body…this great, warm energy that made my body mobile again…" he looked to the smashed glass in the cryo tube. "And a bit more powerful it seems…" he chuckled a bit.

Takumi furrowed his brow as Littlefoot shifted back into his true form. "That's strange…any access to your body could only be accomplished through the console I hooked you up to…check the log-in history for me if you could…"

Mihara nodded and walked over to the console hooked to the cryo-tube, typing in a few things before dragging his finger along the screen a bit, bringing up the history of the log-ins to the system, and looking through it, not seeing anything odd until…

"What the hell is this all about?…" Mihara muttered.

"What is it?" Littlefoot enquired, as Takumi looked up curiously from his bed.

"This is saying the last log in was a transmission from an outside source…"

Takumi sat up even more. "What?…what outside source?…"

"From the professor's ship!' Mihara stated.

Littlefoot's jaw dropped as Takumi's eyes went wide. "That's impossible…all this time that Neo-organism thing has been helping the impactors in trying to kill all of us…why is it suddenly helping us?…"

Another familiar voice suddenly came out from nowhere…"Because the one called the Neo-organism is no more…"

Littlefoot suddenly turned to see the grasshopper up and flying again!

"You!…you've come back as well!" he exclaimed, as Takumi looked over to spot where he kept the shattered remains, not finding them.

"That is correct…" it plainly stated. "At the same time Mihara was resurrected, I was reconstructed."

"Well then, maybe you could make some sense out of this…" Takumi said as Mihara looked in the grasshopper's direction. "Why?…why is this all happening?…why is that computer suddenly helping us?"

The grasshopper flew as it answered. "Well, it seems that all along, the computer on the professor's ship, to put it simply, was composed of two distinct personalities, with one suppressing the other until now…you see, the one called the Neo-organism was holding back this other part of itself all this time, wanting to dominate all life, and kill whatever got in its way…this other part of it's being was the Neo-organism's polar opposite, the one more interested in serving other creatures, assisting them, even healing them."

Littlefoot tilted his head. "Does this other part call itself anything?"

The Grasshopper landed on another console. "Indeed…it calls itself the Neo-spirit."

"Interesting…" Takumi spoke up as he lay back on the bed. "But that still doesn't change the fact that we're short-handed, now that my arm's gone. Forget about me using the Faiz gear anymore."

Mihara scratched his head. "That reminds me…where did you put the Delta gear?"

Before Takumi could respond, Ducky entered the ship, carrying the gear in one arm, and some flowers she picked for Takumi in the other. Her eyes met those of the resurrected Mihara, and the two of them just froze for a moment.

Mihara blinked and looked back to Takumi. "You gave the Delta gear to HER?"

Takumi chuckled a bit. "Actually, she took it from me." Ducky blushed as she heard this, before looking back to Mihara.

"What is all this? You're supposed to be dead…am I dreaming?" her eyes went wide.

Mihara chuckled and shook his head. "It's a long story, and I don't fully understand it…but I really am alive again, Ducky."

Ducky just nodded slowly as she placed the flowers down, so many emotions going through her mind at the moment, and just no possible way to express them. She walked towards him, holding the Delta gear out in hands and lowering her head with a shy smile.

"Then this belongs to you once again…I did what I could with it in your place."

Takumi smiled. "She did a lot more than that, Mihara…with the help of your memories of fighting programmed into the gear, she became a great ally to our cause. It would take too long to tell you all she did, but believe me, it was all very impressive."

Mihara looked on with a surprise smile. "Well if that's true, then I'd hate to suddenly take all that away from you in an instant."

"You may not have to, Mihara." The Grasshopper spoke up. "I've been doing a little more investigating into what it is exactly the Neo-Spirit did when it resuscitated you, and I've found that it added a few extra chemicals to your body."

"Really?" Mihara looked on with Ducky and Takumi, as Littlefoot sat in the background.

"Yes. You see, it somehow anticipated a situation like this, with Takumi being taken out of commission, so it injected you with the exact types of chemicals and enzymes that Takumi has in his body…the exact chemicals needed for one to use the Faiz gear."

Takumi sat straight up. "Wait a minute. You're telling me that Mihara can become Faiz now?"

"Correct." The grasshopper answered, as Mihara's jaw dropped and he looked down to Ducky, while slowly smiling.

"Well, Ducky. What do you say? Is this start of a new partnership, or what?" He slowly extended his hand to her. Ducky was slightly hesitant about continuing on as Delta, but she slowly realized that she was still needed for the cause.

"I've come this far as Delta…I might as well finish the job." She smiled and accepted his handshake as Takumi and Littlefoot smiled on, nodding to each other in approval.

Meanwhile, in a canyon not too far from the Valley, Logia was kneeling on the ground, back in his helmet, just staring over Lucia's dead body; slowly, General Balcus walked toward the hybrid Impactor, just looking at him for the longest time, before finally speaking.

"I'm awaiting your word, commander." Balcus spoke, pretty sure of what the commander wanted to do now, but still waiting for confirmation. "Just tell me when, and I'll contact the Impactor forces on Ribos…it's far off, granted, but it's the closest base we have to this planet."

"No…" Logia shook his head as he stood up finally. "I will not stand and wait for others to clean this mess up."

"We can't do this by ourselves, Logia!" Balcus retorted. "We can't waltz in and beat every single one of our enemies there…its suicide!"

"Yes! It is suicide!" Logia snapped. "But it makes no difference to me. I've been slowly dying these past few hours anyway, after he killed the only one in my life who ever showed me any compassion…any care…any semblance of love at all! It's better that I die now, then simply wait, and to see myself waste away…" he looked down at the Orga gear, which he held. "If I am to die…then everyone else shall go to oblivion with me!"

Balcus sighed as he heard this. He thought he might as well let Logia go at this point, and contact the forces on Ribos once this was all finished. He took out the capsules containing his remaining squads of Giga-fighters. "Very well…I'll provide you with all the backup I can."

"Thank you, General." Logia slowly walked over to Balcus, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know we've had our differences in the past, and I've been too abrasive with you. But through it all, you have been nothing but a true friend and comrade to myself, as you were to Lucia. And I thank you for it."

Balcus placed his hand on Logia's shoulder, and nodded in return. "Thank you commander. And I shall never regret my partnership with you once, from this day forward."

Logia turned and looked in the direction of the Valley. "Now…to battle."

Balcus nodded, and slowly walked off with the commander.

The two impactors walked off together, unaware that the ship of the Neo-Spirit was watching them through its long-range scanners. The computerized being floated about the room slowly as it looked to the regenerating body inside of one of the compartments, sleeping peacefully.

"The situation below is slowly becoming more and more serious as time goes along…" it gently stroked the glass of the compartment. "I have calibrated all of the necessary systems to bring about the regeneration as quickly as possible. All I can do now is hope you will regain consciousness in time to stop this all from coming to a tragic conclusion…"

As the ship floated high above the Earth, Littlefoot, the resurrected Mihara, and Takumi, complete with a folded up and pinned jacket sleeve, addressed all the other young warriors, Ali, Ducky, Shorty, Cera, Slick, and Rock, updating them on what happened with Mihara, the emergence of the Neo-Spirit, Mihara's inheritance of the Faiz gear, and the death of Impactor Lucia.

Littlefoot slowly walked among his comrades, as his father and grandfather looked on. "There's simply no doubt about it at this point…with the death of his closest officer, Logia is going to invade the valley with whatever forces he has left…you all have suits that he's been after, yes, but I think this time…" he sighed softly. "This time he's going to be targeting me, specifically, with those forces."

Ali gave him a concerned look as he continued to address his friends. "There's no reason for you, any of you, to be involved in this anymore…Logia is MY brother…he's MY problem, and shouldn't be yours…that's why I've come up with an idea…"

Shorty nodded on slowly, as if already knowing this, as the others looked on with big eyes. Littlefoot spoke once more. "I will take my Dad, my grandpa, and Shorty, and we will leave the valley, keeping you out of harm's way…I will face my brother alone, and save you the burden of having to fight again. You can all go back to your normal lives, and hopefully, once this is all settled, so can I."

Everyone was just silent at this point, and it seemed it would stay that way, until Cera suddenly got up and walked toward her friend, whom she had known since they were hatchlings.

"Littlefoot…" She began. "You've been through so much with all of us, for years and years, long before this whole suit mess ever occurred. So you should know, better than anyone…" she smiled widely. "…That you are never, ever, EVER, going to get rid of us!"

"That's right…" Ali smiled as she stood up. "Logia may not be my brother, but since he's your problem, Littlefoot, I say that MAKES him my problem."

"Yes!" Rock shouted as he stood up. "I say we all face him head on! Take down whatever he throws at us!"

"Yeah!" Shorty grinned as he stood. "Him and that brute General that's still alive!"

Ducky grinned and nodded as she got up, as Slick rose as well, looking around him, and smiling back to Littlefoot. "Well Littlefoot, it looks like your allies have spoken."

Littlefoot looked around at all his comrades, still unwilling to leave his side in spite of all that happened up to that point. It all filled him with a great sense of inspiration.

"Ok then." He smiled as he looked to all of them. "Let's get ourselves prepared…we have a home to defend!"

The gang all nodded and cheered slightly in approval, as the preparations began.

Meanwhile, Logia stopped on his way, and had set up a sort of funeral Pyre for Lucia, setting her lifeless body on a slab of rock with twigs and leaves under it, sending a mild blast from his gun to start the blaze. He simply looked on, with General Balcus watching in the distance, giving the commander his space.

The smoke slowly rose from the blaze as it began to burn through Lucia's armor.

"For all the time you spent on me…" Logia spoke softly. "For saving my life on more than one occasion…for letting me share in the glory and honor by giving me new life as an impactor, when others would have been content in letting me die…I thank you. I shall thank you for all eternity, Lucia. You were a great warrior, a great teacher, and most important of all, you were a good mother."

He felt a single tear leave what remained of his face under the helmet, and then gripped at the Orga gear tightly. "I shall make him suffer, Lucia. He will feel more pain and suffering than all of the damned souls in abyss combined! I promise you!"

With that, he turned from the funeral pyre, walking towards the General and nodding. "Let us continue our path." Balcus nodded softly and continued on with him, silently.

Back in the valley, all of the young heroes had split off into groups, each one patrolling the possible entrance points to the area, as Littlefoot kept a watch over many of the families in those areas, making sure they'd be safe at the moment of attack.

Then Rock and Slick, who were patrolling one spot, saw something. They called everyone else up to where they were, and they came up just as fast as they could, each one getting a good look at what was approaching the valley.

Logia walked slowly, with General Balcus at his side, but they were not alone. A few moments earlier, Balcus deployed his remaining capsules, each one containing a squadron of specially designed Giga Fighters, each one having a pair of small laser cannons attached to their wrists! Balcus walked with his sword and shield at the ready, while Logia walked with his gun in one hand, the Orga driver in the other, as the belt was now on his waist.

The groups looked on as Logia stopped, and looked around at the fighters, and then back to the General. He then looked over at his opponents, who were watching him.

"I have come to put an end to all of these childish games you've been playing with us!" He shouted to them, as they said nothing in return. "We tried to be as discreet and as quick as possible in disposing of you all, and retrieving the suits you now carry in your bodies. But you resisted, and you resisted, and one of you even killed a great warrior of the Impactor race…and that, to me, is no less than a declaration of war! And when it comes to war, my friends, we Impactors take no prisoners, and leave no surviviors! So say goodbye to your friends, your families, your very lives as you know them!

The heroes simply looked on angrily as Logia turned to General Balcus and the Giga fighters. "Rub them out."

Balcus nodded as he pointed his sword to the valley, and the Giga fighters began to march slowly holding out their gun-mounted arms. With that, Shorty jumped down first, instantly shifting into Gillis and growling, as Ali followed, shifting into Chalice and readying her bow, while Cera shifted into blade and unsheathed her sword. Rock then transformed himself into Leangle, and took a few practice swings with his staff, while Slick shifted into Garren, and fired his gun into the air a few times.

Mihara then slipped the Faiz gear around his waist for the first time, with Takumi looking on and smiling, as he took out the Faiz driver and entered the 555 code….STANDING BY…calling out "Henshin!" and slipping the driver into the belt…COMPLETE…He felt the red photon streams circle around him and transform him into Faiz, as he stood there and marveled over his form. Ducky smiled to Mihara as she soon followed suit, entering the 333 code on what was once his driver, and transforming into Delta within moments.

Littlefoot soon shifted into Agito's default gold and black form after all this, and simply stared down at Logia, who was simply standing there, waiting for the group to wear themselves out first, or for Littlefoot to make a move on him.

Balcus then gave the order to charge to the Giga fighters, as he yelled out and began to ran with them into the valley, finding Gillis, Chalice, Blade, Leangle, Garren, Faiz, and Delta, all right there waiting for them. Cera naturally struck first as Blade, deflecting laser shots from the fighters with her sword, immediately cleaving one almost completely in half as others ganged up on her, Rock providing backup for her as he swung his staff and bashed a few in the head with the heavy end.

Delta and Garren countered the fire from the Giga fighters by pulling out their own guns, firing and ducking to avoid their shots, while the new Faiz withdrew his sword and slashed away at the fighters, enjoying his first battle since his rebirth of sorts. Chalice swiftly avoided any grabs being made for her as she rolled and fired her bow, the barrage of energy arrows keeping the fighters at bay, while Gillis angrily kicked and pushed away fighters, trying to get right to General Balcus, who taunted him with a few swings of his sword every so often.

As the battle raged on, Agito had jumped down onto the rocky ground outside of the valley, heading right towards Logia slowly.

"So…you've come on your own to pay the price for your murdering?" Logia asked him.

"Brother…" Littlefoot started. "When are you going to realize that you don't need these Impactors? When are you going to wake up and see that they've just been using you all along?"

Logia sighed. "It depends on when you realize that all along your mother was nothing more than a hateful manipulative bitch that cared nothing for her offspring."

Agito breathed heavily as he quickly shifted into his burning form. "All right…I've had enough of this…I won't have you slandering my mother anymore! She was the kindest, gentlest, most thoughtful being on the face of the earth! And if you can't realize that, if you're too blind to see it, then I guess you really aren't my brother…not anymore."

Logia snarled. "Then prepare to finish the job your mother started all those years ago…if you can." He flipped open the Orga driver and entered the code…000…and pressed enter as a menacing "STANDING BY" was heard, along a strong pulsing sound. He then raised the driver and took off his helmet, saying "henshin…" softly, as he slipped the driver into his belt.

COMPLETE.

He stood there, looking at Agito, as a series of gold photon streams wrapped around his body, covering it in a new layer of thick, strong black and gold armor, a cape flowing behind him as a red globe was embedded in his chest, a large helmet, complete with a red visor shaped as the omega symbol over his head as he stood.

Logia had now become Orga, and reached for the large sword sheathed at his side, while Agito glowed in his burning form, and shifted into his ultimate Shining form.

Agito looked on. "If I have to kill you Logia, I will…"

Orga gave a single, slow nod. "Then try…"

With that, Agito launched himself towards Orga, withdrawing his blade and slashing at him as Orga blocked and parried with his sword quckly, the clashing blades giving off powerful sparks as the two brothers fought, Orga kicking Agito away as he swung his sword, cutting a big rock in half as Agito got out of the way and slashed at him, only to have Orga grab him by the arm and give him a hard headbutt, sending Agito reeling as he stepped in and slashed once more, cutting into a little of Agito's armor as he yelled out and dropped down, sweeping at Orga's feet as he went down, and parried Agito's blade away as he tried to bring it down on Orga.

Orga got back onto his feet as he swung and swung his sword, ferociously clashing with Agito's blade as Agito quickly blocked and parried everything Orga threw at him, but was finding himself slowly being pushed back against a rock wall, desperately trying to push Orga back, but Orga was much to strong, and soon had him up against the rock wall, his sword at his throat as he attempted a killing blow with the weapon. Agito soon found an opening however, and slipped down quickly just as Orga was about to thrust his sword in, and quickly kicked it out of his hand, and coming up to nail him with a hard punch before he could realize what happened. Orga grunted and fell away as Agito put his blade away and threw a series of spinning kicks at Orga, getting him once across the helmet, and then square in the chest, before smacking his sides a few times.

Orga then growled in frustration as he finally grabbed a hold of Agito's leg as he kicked, then rushed forward and nailed him with a hard clothesline across the throat! Agito hit the ground hard as he coughed and grunted, rubbing his throat as Orga lifted his sword and brought it down, trying to skewer Agito with it as he rolled away a few times from each thrust, and leaned back to kick Orga right in the visor once more. Orga fell away as Agito swiftly got back onto his feet, and got out his blade once more, swinging it as the two clashed and sparks flew.

Everything was just as crazy in the valley as the battle raged on, each warrior working together and holding their own against the new giga fighters.

General Balcus was still taunting Gillis, swinging his sword as Gillis fought off more Giga fighters, before something came at him from behind and smacked into him! It was Grandpa's tail! Balcus yelled out and went flying, rolling as he hit the ground and looked up, seeing the large old Longneck staring him down as Bron joined in the fight, swiping at a few Giga fighters with his own tail, as Cera's father charged in and gored a few fighters on his horns!

"No organic is going to best me in this fight!" Balcus yelled, as he jumped and ran through the group of Giga fighters to get to Grandpa, who swung with his tail again. Balcus promptly blocked it, and stabbed Grandpa right in his side with his broadsword!

Grandpa roared out in agony as Bron looked on in shock, as Grandpa fell to his side, and Balcus pulled out his sword, running off.

"Father!" Bron yelled out, as Balcus simply raised his sword and yelled out in victory, before running off.

Grandpa groaned and squirmed as Faiz and Takumi ran over, with a very concerned Gillis as well.

Takumi quickly examined grandpa before looking up at Bron. "It's ok. Even with one arm, I can treat this wound. He's gonna be all right."

Bron nodded slowly in semi-relief, as Faiz ran off and looked to Gillis. "Leave this to Tak, Shorty. He's got it."

Gillis just nodded slowly, and looked over to Where Balcus had gone. They may not have been related by blood, but He felt that his close relationship with Bron and Littlefoot made this old longneck just as much his Grandpa as he was Littlefoot's. He growled and slowly shifted into his Exceed Gillis form once again, slowly walking to Balcus as he grabbed and threw off any Giga fighters that got in his way.

Balcus was ready for him, his sword ready to strike, and his shield at his front, as Gillis roared and charged in, extracting his wrist blades as he clashed them with Balcus' sword loudly! Balcus got the upper hand though, and brought up his sword, throwing Gillis' arms off before kicking him to the ground.

He then charged at Gillis with his upraised sword. "DIE!" He brought it down as Gillis rolled away and shot one of his long tendrils out, wrapping it around Balcus' throat as he used it to throw him to the side. He charged at Balcus with a newfound rage, roaring out loudly as he brought up a single blade. Balcus raised his shield before Gillis spun, and brought the blade down, cleaving his shield completely in half! He grabbed Balcus and opened the mouth on his helmet, taking a bite out of his metal shoulder as Balcus yelled out in pain and fell back, dropping his now useless shield, while Gillis growled and spit out the metal he had in his mouth.

Before he moved in for the kill, he heard a scream! He looked over to see a poor Longneck girl who was caught in the middle of the battle. Gillis quickly ran over to her, forgetting about his rage for once, and tried to help her get out of the area, kicking away any Giga Fighters that got in the way. He then suddenly turned to see Balcus lunge at him with a murderous yell, bring his sword down hard as Gillis rolled out of the way, shielding the girl as he headed for higher ground, with Balcus following.

Chalice saw Gillis doing this, and fired her bow at any Giga fighters who were trying to follow the General, scoring a direct hit each time while Blade protected her by slicing away at anyone who wished to interfere with Chalice, while Rock and Slick teamed up to help out Faiz and Delta in keeping the bulk of the fighters at bay.

While this was going on, the battle still raged on between Agito and Orga, sparks flying everywhere, and even starting a few fires around them as they fought, Orga slashing away madly with his sword, as Agito blocked with his blade and kicked. Orga soon found an opening, and grabbed a hold of his adversary, slipping behind him and punching him repeatedly in the back around his kidneys. Each punch was an unbearable feeling of pain for Agito, as he screamed and struggled, before Orga finally attempted to skewer Agito through the back with his sword, only to receive a swift back kick in the crotch of his armor!

Orga yelled out in pain as Agito turned and jammed his blade into his shoulder! Orga cried out in agony as he held onto the blade, keeping Agito from jamming it in any further, struggling with him for a moment as he shook.

"Like old times…" he said with a quiver, remembering the emotional and physical pain of almost dying at birth, and almost dying once again after falling into the chasm. "How I've longed to feel this pain once more!" He proclaimed, almost gleefully, as he suddenly pulled the blade out, and pushed Agito aside, slowly rising.

"Go on…strike me! Give me more!"

Agito got up and quickly smacked Orga's head with a three-punch combo, only to get shoved back once more, as Orga held out his arms.

"More! More!"

Agito got up once more, and punched him in the helmet once again, before turning and getting him hard in the chest with a kick, before falling back some, as Orga seemed completely unaffected by it all.

"That's it. I remember that twinge." He said, rubbing his chest some.

Agito shook his head as he ran in, this time swinging his blade as he cut through some of Orga's armor, before Orga simply slapped the weapon away, and kicked Agito off to the side, looking over his wounds and feeling them.

"Do you know what it's like to be without flesh?" He spoke. "To only feel the pain of an Impactor. The pain of an organic goes much, much deeper, and for a long time, I'd forgotten what it felt like. But thanks to you…I remember…I truly remember it all now! Crystal clear!"

He then roared out in rage and charged as Agito stood, before smashing him in the chest with a well-placed punch! Agito yelled and fell back as Orga advanced…

Back in the valley, Gillis was still protecting the longneck girl, who was about his own age, as Balcus advanced on them.

"You're not getting away from me, young organic!" he roared, as Gillis helped the girl up onto a higher rock, and charged Balcus, keeping him from going any further as he clashed with him, Balcus now wielding his sword in a two-handed style since his shield was gone, slashing at Gillis as he countered with his tendrils once more, wrapping them around Balcus' wrists. Balcus was ready for this though, and yanked his wrists hard, sending Gillis into the nearby rock wall, as he hit his head hard! Balcus then laughed a bit and walked over, grabbing Gillis by the back of the head, and ramming it into the rock wall once again.

Gillis grunted and fell back, growling on his knees as Balcus walked over to him slowly, readying his sword for a decapitation. "Say good night, little flesh-job!"

As he raised his sword, though, Gillis quickly got up, and with a quick spin and a roar, jabbed his right wrist blade into Balcus' abdomen!

Balcus quickly dropped his sword and yelled out in pain as he gripped Gillis' arm with both his arms, Gillis staring fiercely into the Impactor's face, before Balcus simply leaned in and head butted him, the blade still in his gut as Gillis let it detach from his wrist.

Balcus gripped Gillis by the throat with both hands, attempting to choke the life out of him as Gillis sputtered and coughed from the strong grip around him, Balcus so intent on killing him that he didn't remember the blade still in his gut. Gillis kicked it hard as it went deeper into his body, while Balcus groaned and loosened his grip. Gillis saw Balcus' dropped sword behind him, and gripped him as he stepped on the hilt with his heel, propping the sword up as he used his weight to bring Balcus down, impaling him on the large blade!

Balcus simply grunted as the sword went through, directly severing his power supply. Gillis growled as he got back up and kicked Balcus, sending him off the edge of the rock walls, the General letting out a "gaaaaaaahhhhhhhh…" as he plummeted, and was soon silenced the moment he hit the ground, his power supply failing, as he then lost the glow in his visor, and was gone, his lifeless body laying in the dirt…

Gillis breathed hard as he recovered from the fight, rubbing his neck some as he coughed a bit. The Longneck girl, who had been watching the thing, looked down at Gillis with a combination of slight fear, and gratitude.

"Thank you." She simply told Gillis, as he nodded and helped her down from the higher rock.

The Giga fighters were completely lost now, since their leader had just been killed, making them easy targets for Chalice, Blade, Leangle, Garren, Delta, and Faiz, as each one used their weapons and skills to take them down. It didn't help much that it was also starting to rain, which wasn't good for the vision of the fighters at times.

Gillis panted a bit as he lay back next to the girl, the fight with Balcus having taken a lot out of him. "Well, I'd say my friends have this all under control." He chuckled, as Delta quickly used the device on her wrist to shift into her speedy mode, and Faiz used the device to transform into Accel mode, taking care of the remaining Giga fighters as Delta zipped around and blasted some into oblivion, while Faiz took to the sky on his jet pack and fired away. All this, while Blade charged up much of her body and sword with her energy, and let Leangle launch her into a series of wild attacks, while Chalice took out a whole group with a big energy arrow, Garren providing backup for Delta as he made multiple duplicates of himself to confuse the fighters, as he fired away.

As this all happened, Gillis sighed and relax, shifting back into Shorty right next to the girl. The girl gasped for a moment, and then smiled a bit.

"You really are one of them. Those special dinosaurs I've been hearing about around here. "

Shorty nodded a bit and smiled as he relaxed. "Yeah…my name's Shorty, and it was a pleasure to save your life."

The girl giggled a bit and nodded. "I'm called Rin…and it was a pleasure to be saved."

Shorty laughed a bit and nodded, recovering with Rin at his side as they watched the others wipe out the rest of the Giga Fighters, the valley safe once again.

Back in the outskirts, things weren't going so well for Agito, as he tried and tried to attack Orga, but was easily punched and kicked away each time. Orga fought on fiercely, still remembering the organic pain he used to feel, the memory and rage behind it driving him, as he sent Agito reeling each time he stepped forward to attack. He had become nearly invincible now, as with a final hard right hand, he sent Agito rolling onto his stomach, coughing and struggling as he crawled a bit, completely at a loss at what to do now.

Orga seized the moment and milked it, looking down at his brother as the opportunity for vengeance finally came. He withdrew his big sword and pressed the enter key on his driver…EXCEED CHARGE… his sword began to glow, as the blade extended and extended, making it an even more fierce weapon for a final blow, as Orga readied the weapon.

"Now to finish you!" He simply stated.

Then something completely unexpected happened. A large tail came out of nowhere, and slapped at Orga's hand from the bottom, making him release the sword as it flew away, the exceed charge still inside of it, and making the sword blow up!

"Who dares!" Orga yelled, as he turned to see a large female longneck looking down at him. It was Ayla! Littlefoot's mother!

Orga was completely speachless, Agito equally so as he looked up and saw his mother restored to her original form, Orga slowly shifting back into Logia as the loss of energy from the failed exceed charge drained the belt.

"Logia…" Ayla softly spoke. "Please stop this…stop this insanity, I beg of you. Don't kill my son, and your brother."

Logia slowly removed his helmet, revealing his scarred face once more as he spoke just as quietly now. "You're one to talk about not killing, aren't you? Need I remind you that you almost killed me." He shook his head. "What was wrong with me, mother? What did I ever do to you in those days, as an innocent young child, to deserve such a horrid fate."

"Oh Logia…" Ayla's eyes filled with tears as she leaned down to face her lost son. "Logia, I would have never, ever done a thing to you like that on purpose, you must believe me. It was an accident, one of many. I lost so many other eggs before yours, and Littlefoot was the last one I had. And if I had known that you had survived, and if I had not been distracted by the fight with the sharptooth, I would have devoted all of my love and care to you, just like I did with Littlefoot…" she sniffled. "You are my son, Logia…I see you as nothing less than that…and in spite of all you've done, in spite of how those Impactors used you…I love you, my son…believe me…please believe me…"

Logia lowered his head as he heard all this, confirming everything that Littlefoot had told him earlier, his eyes welling up with tears as he was now so ashamed at what he had done, but also grateful to know the truth…that he was loved after all.

"I do believe you…mother…" Logia responded, as Agito shifted back into Littlefoot, looking on as mother and son nuzzled closely, a great reconciliation now taking place.

The moment could have lasted forever, before Logia suddenly grunted and clutched at his abdomen, his Orga gear sparking and sizzling as the voice called out, "ERROR", making Logia drop down onto his back.

"Logia!" Littlefoot yelled, as he ran towards his downed brother, Ayla's teary-eyed face looking on, before she heard a familiar voice call out, "Ayla!"

Bron, who had seen his mate in the distance, walked out into the area she was in, his eyes wide open in disbelief as he called out again. "Ayla!"

"Bron!" she called back with a surprised look, as the couple went to each other, separated for so long as they shared a long emotional cuddle.

"Ohhhh Ayla….Ayla…I can't believe you're alive." Bron cried as he held his mate close. "I'm so sorry I didn't make it back in time." He said, recalling the time he left their old home.

"It's all right…it's all right…" Ayla comforted him as she shed her tears. "I'm just glad I'm here to see you again…"

This moment of joy was brief however, as he saw Littlefoot tending to the downed Logia.

"What's going on?" Bron asked as he walked over with Ayla.

Logia struggled to rise to a sitting position as he lowered his head, coughing a bit. "Lucia warned me about this…the Orga gear has overloaded my Impactor systems…I'm dying…"

The three simply froze upon hearing this, as Logia sat and smiled to himself some. "You all have no idea what I have experienced my lifetime…the raid of the Paxerian trade routes…passing the ordeal at Tanhauser rock…being given my first command job…seeing galaxy after galaxy, star after star, conversing with species you wouldn't believe…but this moment…the one I'm sharing with you all, here at the end…outshines all of those moments put together…Thank you…so…very…much…"

With that, Logia simply lowered his head and went silent, sitting perfectly still. No cries, no struggling. He simply let himself go, content in finally knowing the truth, and making peace with his soul forever.

Littlefoot looked down tearfully, as Ayla nuzzled Logia's still body, giving his scarred head a final, loving lick, as Bron nuzzled her gently.

"After all I did…" Littlefoot said softly. "I couldn't save him…"

Ayla then leaned over and nuzzled her son. "You DID save him, Littlefoot…it may have been brief, but in that moment, Logia finally learned what we all really felt about him. In that moment, he was free of all the lies, all the deception, free of the anger that he walled himself up with. He was saved, Littlefoot…and now he can rest knowing that."

Littlefoot nodded softly as he got up to join his reunited Mother and Father, the family slowly walking back to the Valley.

As they slowly faded from view, the Neo-Spirit's ship suddenly floated by. The Neo-Spirit had dropped Ayla off around this area once she began to wake, and had been keeping watch on what was going on since then. The ship hovered over the body of Logia, and used a special beam to pull it up onto the main deck, while the form of the Neo-Spirit looked on at the departing family in the distance.

"Forgive me for this deception…but you cannot know about what I have planned next…not yet, anyway."

With that, the ship quickly took off, heading for the far reaches of space.

EPILOGUE

Slick rubbed his arm after being injected with the needle from Mihara.

"Ow…what's this stuff for again?"

Mihara chuckled. "It's a special batch of suppressant that Tak and I cooked up. It's made to force your powers to go dormant…at least until we can return with a proper science team to study all of you."

"And why exactly would we want our powers to go away?" Rock asked from nearby, next to Cera.

"It's for your protection…" Takumi spoke up, he and the computer working on a new cybernetic arm for himself, "If we leave you all here with your powers still active, more Impactor forces, or their allies, will eventually find a way to home in on your signals and track every one of you down for extermination.

Rock just nodded slowly as Ducky slowly walked up to Mihara, handing him the Delta gear. "I guess this belongs to you now."

Mihara smiled as he slowly took back his belt and driver. "You did a great job, Ducky. I'm happy I got to fight alongside you at least once. And who knows, maybe when we come back, I'll let you try it out again, for old time's sake."

Ducky giggled and nodded as she walked back out, waving to her mother, who was relieved to see that awful thing finally out of her hands, as she smiled and waved back, with Spike and Petrie flanking her sides as they nodded their approval. As Ducky walked, Slick popped up right next to her.

"You'll be happy to know, that I had a little chat with Rock a while ago, and we agreed that we're tired of wandering around all the time. We're gonna make this place our home now."

"Really now?" The adolescent duckbill smiled to him. "And what exactly convinced you both to stay?"

The male duckbill coughed a little and blushed some, chuckling. "Oh, lots of different things, stuff we talked about, you know…" He quickly changed the subject. "Say, do you know any good places to swim around here? I'm feeling pretty parched."

Ducky giggled and nodded. "I know just the spot…come with me."

Slick smiled and nodded, as he eagerly obliged.

Soon after, Ali walked along the Valley, seeing Cera and Rock happily running off together, racing each other once more, and giggling as she also saw Shorty relating some of his adventures to an impressed looking Rin, walking along with her.

She soon found Littlefoot by himself in another section of the Valley, just looking on with a small smile as he saw his recovered Grandpa happily chatting with some other elderly dinosaurs.

"He's taking it all quite well, isn't he?" Ali spoke up, as Littlefoot turned for a second, and nodded.

"Yeah. That's my Grandpa…" he thought back to all that happened, including losing Grandma. "No matter how bad things get, you can always count on him to take it all in stride, and move on."

Ali nodded softly. "I certainly hope that's a trait you've inherited from him."

Littlefoot looked down a bit, his mind still going back to Logia every so often. "It's tough, Ali…I can't get it out of my head sometimes. I can't help but wonder, could I have done something different, and could it have led to Logia still being alive today?"

Ali sighed softly. "You did what you had to, Littlefoot…I have a feeling Logia was too far gone anyway, but at least it all ended well for him when you think about it. Besides, I'm just happy that you're still alive after everything that went on here."

"Ali…" Littlefoot spoke, as she slowly walked up next to him. "…I've always wanted to tell you this…the way I've come to feel about you lately…"

Ali shooshed him softly, and slowly leaned into him. "I know already…" she smiled gently. "I think I've known for a long time…"

Littlefoot smiled a little more, and just stood there, giving Ali a gentle nuzzle as they looked on at everything. Out in the distance, Bron observed his son and Ali with a happy smile, as Ayla walked right up next to him, observing with him as they both cuddled lovingly under the sun.

Some time later, after saying all of their goodbyes, the Paxerian ship carrying Takumi, Mihara, as well as the grasshopper, took off from the Earth, and shot out towards the heavens, unaware of what was going on deep in another galaxy as they headed for home.

The ship of the Neo-Spirit drifted slowly out into the middle of an uninhabited galaxy, its windows aglow with some odd activity from within.

From the middle of the room, the Neo-Spirt looked on, as there was a bizarre tank filled with red fluid now in one section of the room. Inside of it was the familiar scarred face of logia, a breathing tube attached to his mouth, as the rest of his body was free of the Impactor armaments, his form a simple mass of flesh, that was now slowly starting to take shape in this electronic womb.

"The complete physiological regeneration is in full effect, now…" the Neo-Spirit spoke, addressing the unconscious Logia as the tank bubbled. "As it comes to completion, we shall begin the next phase…we must prepare ourselves for retaliation. The Impactors are always developing new weapons to use on the innocent. Therefore we must keep ourselves ahead in countering those tactics, Logia…"

The computerized creature froze for a moment. "No…Logia is not a good name for you anymore…for as you were once cursed to fall into the abyss, you will now be walking the path of heaven." It's eyes lit up. "That's it…there is a word in ancient Paxerian that means, "Walking the path of heaven…" and that is what I shall call you now…rest well, 'Tendou'."

The Neo-Spirit slowly retreated into its resting place, as a display came up on the screen, showing a humanoid figure dressed in red and silver, with corner showing the words:

PROJECT: KABUTO

Well, that does it for this storyline, but as you can see, I'm making plans to continue this saga. Stay tuned!


End file.
